Water, Fire, and War
by moonysoracle24
Summary: Marie Morales is broken and has sea colored hair. When her identity is revealed she has to learn how to deal with her demons. When olympus is poisoned and the gods turn evil, it’s up to Marie and the seven to restore goodness to the world. While dealing with that and a vast amount of mental issues, she tries to grasp why a boy with curly hair and an elvish face would ever love her
1. Chapter 1: A troubled young girl

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING AT ALL! The only thing I own is Marie. All credit goes to the amazing Rick Riordan

(Marie POV)

Marie Morales was not what you'd call an average teenager. She was tall and awkward for sure, but there was something odd about her. She always got in trouble. The term Troubled kid seemed to fit her right. At least, that's what the therapist said. Marie couldn't go to school weeks without being sent to the principal's office. She was honestly surprised that she'd made it all the way to June without getting expelled. See, this public school she went to now, was the only one that would take her. This was her 7th school in seven years. Lucily her criminal record would disappear by the time she turned 18, so she only had two more years until a fresh-ish start. She was seriously ADD. she couldn't go five minutes without drumming her fingers on the desk or kicking her feet back and forth. Sometimes it got so distracting that she was asked to leave the classroom.

Another thing was her hair. It was always an ocean-y blue-green. It could never be dyed, if it was cut it grew back within a week, and it was the reason she had never stayed more than three months at any catholic/private schools. It was unreasonably curly, yet surprisingly easy to brush.

As the clouds rumbled over the town, Marie stepped off the bus followed by jeers and cruel laughs. The kids all called her "sea monster" because of her hair. It was almost the last day of school and the kids still hated her. She couldn't blame them, she hated herself. She walked down the sidewalk as slowly as she could. She walked to the front door and stopped when her hand was on the door knob. She took a deep breath and walked in. her mother, Tanya, was sitting on the couch, drinking whiskey and smoking a cigarette. Marie tried not to look at her as she passed. "Why are you such a curse?" her mother said.

Marie continued to walk. Her mother stood up with surprising speed. She grabbed the baseball bat she kept at her side. CRACK! The bat made a sound like lightning as Marie hit the hardwood floor. "You did something stupid again."

The majority of the beatings Marie were because of something that she got in trouble for at school. Other times it was because her mom was was pissed at her for no reason. But, that seemed to be all the time.

"I got a call from your principal today. She said that you were "causing trouble." said she'd have kicked you out if your grades weren't so good."

She hit her again. She didn't use the bat this time, she used her hands. But they were just as powerful. They were rough and solid like two cement blocks. One hit could make you want to cry. (which is something Marie did quite often).

"What did you do?!" her mom screamed in her face.

Marie curled up on the floor with her hands over her head like she was waiting for a bomb to explode. Tears streamed down her face. "I didn't do anything I swear!" she shouted over the sounds of her cries.

"Bullshit!" her mom screamed. She hit Marie again.

Marie really hadn't done anything. At least, not on purpose. She went to school as she always did. She sat in the back of the class, spoke only when spoken to, and finished all her work 30 minutes before anyone else. She sat by herself at lunch, which she didn't mind. All seemed normal. Then, two of the girls who had bullied her all year walked over, looking for trouble. Their names were Sherry Thomas and Lindsay Lou Gahls. They usually made fun of the baggy clothes she wore (to cover up her scars, cuts, and bruises.) or the fact that her hair was blue. But today, it seemed like more than them picking on her.

"Hey skank." sherry said.

"Hello, Sherry." Marie heaved a sigh.

"So you think you can steal my man and get away with it?" sherry growled.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Ted saw you walking by today. I was trying to talk to him but he just kept on watching you walk. He said that he likes watching you from behind. Maybe your clothes aren't as baggy as you think."

This always made Marie feel uncomfortable. Guys always hit on her because of how her body looked. That was another reason why she wore such baggy clothes.

"Sorry. I'll try to be less noticeable."

"He broke up with me you know. He said that you made him realize what he really wants." her voice was dangerous now.

"He plans on asking you out after lunch." Lindsay Lou said

"Shut up Lins." Sherry said in an annoyed voice.

"Sorry Sherry." lindsay lou said quietly and hid behind Sherry.

Almost every boy had asked Marie out. And she turned everyone of them down. They all wanted the same thing: her body. She hated being eye candy.

"It's hardly my fault that your boyfriend is bored with you." Marie wished she hadn't said that. She tried so hard to stay out of troubles, but she had the unfortunate luck of acting on impulse. It's part of her being ADD.

Because of her comment, Sherry lunged at Marie. Moving out of the way quickly, Marie dodged Sherry's attack and Sherry fell face first into a plate of spaghetti. This only made Sherry angrier. She growled with fury and lunged at her again. Marie had been in her fair share of fights she she knew how to handle herself. She avoided offense and stuck with defense. That way, she wouldn't get in trouble. She was merely just defending herself. But it never worked out in her favor. Before she knew it, the whole cafeteria was chanting Fight! Fight! Fight!

It wasn't long until a teacher had to break it up. And so she once again found herself in the principal's office. She tried to tell the truth about what really happened, but it just seemed that every word she said made the principal want to believe Sherry even more. And so once again she found herself in another bad situation. She was sure she would have been expelled if it wasn't so close to the end of the year.

Her mom was still beating her with the bat. "Your principal said you hit that poor Sherry Thomas girl. What did that poor girl ever do to you?"

"Sherry Thomas is a skank who is nothing but a bitch to me, she started the fight not me!"

"Why the fuck would she do that?"

"Because her boyfriend broke up with her after i walked past them in the hallway."

Marie's mom hit her again. "See. you're always doing something. Always. You ruined this family!"

"You ruined this family with your drinking and drug problems!"

Damn impulse. Marie's mom got a murderous look in her eyes. She raised the bat again and struck Marie in the arm. "The fuck did you just say?! You think i ruined this family? You have been a curse on me ever since you were born! You're the reason why I can't get decent work! You're the reason this family has such a bad rep!"

Marie crumbled under the blow. Tears didn't even have time to dry because new ones reformed.

Her mom sat back down and picked up her bottle of whiskey. Marie stood up. She was bruised, broken, and had a look of fear and fury in her eyes. She limped out to the kitchen passing her sister who was sitting at the table. Marie walked out without an idea of where she would go. She thought about the basketball court. She'd go there whenever things weren't good.

She made up her mind.

She picked up a basketball from the the yard and left. The court was empty as usual. She didn't know why people didn't come here. She began to dribble. The sounds echoed off the pavement like footfall down a long hallway. With every bounce she got more and more angry and hateful. Bounce. She hated the kids at her school for never letting her feel like a person. Bounce. She hated the principal for never believing her when things were bad. Bounce. She hated her mother for being an abusive, unloving monster. Bounce. She hated herself for being the way she was.

She shot the ball and it made a perfect swoosh as it went through the net. It was so perfect it didn't even touch the rim. With every spiteful thought she shot the ball and scored. She would have been on the basketball team, but no one would let her. Shot after shot she took. Shot after shot she made. Each with the perfect swish. Then, she remembered someone else she hated. Someone she hadn't thought of in years: Her father.

She now remembered a time long ago, her mother was good then. But her father left, and things got bad. Her head flooded with questions. How could her dad leave? Why did he leave? Who was he? She was filled with such anger and abandonment. She ran with lightning speed, leapt into the air and dunked the ball. The impact was so powerful that it broke the net and shook the earth. Where did that burst of strength come from? How long would it last?

In the distance she heard people shouting in reaction to what happened. How many people had heard it? She didn't want people to follow the sound to the court. If they found it, she wouldn't be able to come here anymore to blow off steam. She wanted to run, but she didn't know where. She just knew that she couldn't stay. Something inside her was calling, no that wasn't the right word. Urging, beckoning, pulling her inner soul to the most ancient place in her deep memory: the beach. Besides the court, the beach was the only place that she ever felt safe. Luckily, the beach was only two blocks away.

She took off her beat up black converse and into the cool sand. She wriggled her toes, letting the dampness of the early evening sand spread over her feet. Marie took a deep breath and felt a wave of nostalgia was over her. It's been a while, old friend. Sounds of laughter were in the air. Children ran around while the mother and father lounged on a picnic blanket. They seemed so happy, so perfect. She wondered if her family had ever been like that. Picnic blankets, wicker baskets, swimmy diapers, and ice cream cones. Marie took a deep breath and walked down to the water.

People looking at her from behind would see her tall figure and curly ocean blue hair glistening in the sunset and think she was a goddess. But if they saw her face, they'd see a broken girl who cries herself to sleep every night. A girl who can't look people in the eye. But looking at the sea, she thought of her father. She had a sudden flashback, a faint memory, like looking through a keyhole. Of her, her mom, and her dad on the beach with a checkered blanket and wicker basket. They weren't sad, they were happy. They were laughing together like nothing else in the world mattered.

Then, her anger boiled up again. Though it wasn't just anger; abandonment was mixed in as well. Silently Marie sobbed. She missed and resented her father at the same time. She wanted to see him again, but she got the feeling that if she did- she'd try to kill him. Wrapped up in her own family issues, Marie didn't notice that a humongous wave was forming. When she finally did notice it, it was near impact. Everyone ran off the beach in a hurry but Marie stayed behind to make sure everyone is safe. She herded children out of the water and made them run ahead of her to ensure their safety.

Once they were all ahead of her, she ran. She was running alongside a little girl. Suddenly, they child tripped and landed face-first in the sand. As the child cried out in pain, Marie - almost falling over - ran back to make sure she was okay.

"Are you alright? What's wrong?" Marie asked.

"My-my ankle… I think it's b-broken." the girl's ankle was twisted in ways a limb should never be twisted.

Marie had to think. She had barely a minute before the wave would crush her. She didn't have time to hoist the girl on to her shoulder and walk her down the beach. She had to act fast.

"Do you trust me?" Marie said with an air of panic.  
"Please help me!" the little girl pleaded.

"Do you trust me?"

Hesitant, the girl nodded slowly.

Marie felt the same surge of strength that she had at the court. She grabbed the injured child by that back to the shirt, and threw her across the beach where everyone was watching intently. The girl's family caught her.

Marie had barely a second to turn around before the wave slammed into her. The wave seemed to stay in breaking position. She was being tossed around in the water like a rag doll and was writhing all over. While her brain was getting all mixed up Marie still had consciousness. Unaware of what she was doing, she stuck her arms out on either side and the water stopped, almost as if she was controlling it. When her brain was back to normal and she could see straight again, she saw what was happening. The even weirder thing was that she could breathe. She put her arms down and the water followed; she put her foot down and stared at her hands. "How did I-?"

She took a step forward and everyone moved back in fear. Parents shielded their children from her. Wind began to blow fiercely. Thunder rumbled and rain began to fall softly. Looking at everyone's faces she saw horror, fear and hate. Marie's mind went blank. She had no idea what had just happened; the only thing she could think to do was run. She didn't go straight home of course, that would be stupid. She walked around town for a few hours until the sky was completely dark.

Street lights and porch lamps glowed brightly through the darkness. Marie jumped up each step. If she was right, and she often was, it was now 9 o'clock which meant her mother would now be passed out on the couch and her sister was fast asleep upstairs. Slowly Marie opened the door to her dark house. She stepped onto the landing when she heard a sound behind her. Clink. The lamp turned on and Marie turned around to see who was there. Her mother was sitting there in her usual attire: dirty bunny slippers, a holey t-shirt beer stained shorts, and a ratty bathrobe. With her eyes narrowed, Marie's mother glared at her. "You got any idea what time it is?" she said.

"It's 9 o'clock. But you would know that if you weren't too high to see." Marie had enough awfulness to last one day and was not.

"What did you just say?" Tanya said in a murderous voice that was barely above a whisper. In seconds Tanya had leapt from her chair and had wrapped her hand around Marie's neck. "Say it again! Say it!"

"Crackhead" marie choked

Maries mother threw her onto the ground and began to beat her with all of her fury. Marie felt new tears roll down her face and quietly took the beating.

When her mother finally relented, she sat back down in her chair and picked up her bottle of whiskey. Marie slumped up the stairs and walked down the hall to her room. All the lights were off and the moonlight was streaming in through the blinds. Her bed was messy and the blankets were all shoved against the wall. Despite herroom being as mess, she knew where everything was. She walked over to a small cabinet beside her bed that held all of her medical supplies. She took out the bandages and neosporin and sat on the edge of her bed. She was still crying as she wrapped a bandage around her arms and ribs. This was the third time this week she had to put herself back together and she was finally fed up. She couldn't take the abuse anymore and wanted it to stop. There was only one way she could escape the pain and be okay. It was an awful thing to even consider, but she was already broken, how much more broken could she get without dying? There wasn't much she had to do, her injuries were pretty bad. She laid down on her bed and shut her eyes, waiting for the darkness to consume her.

For an hour she let herself slowly begin to fade away. Her bruises ached and her cuts bled. Her head was pounding as she waited for death to take her away. What's taking so long? She thought to herself. She didn't think it would take her so long to die, she thought it would be a quick stop breathing and I'm gone type of thing. A second idea flowed into her head. An idea she had considered in the past but was unable to act on it. She sat up and moved across the room to where she kept her backpacks. She picked the sturdiest and largest one and took two steps across the room to her clothes and began to pack frantically. In the locker where she kept her medical supplies she also kept food and water (her mom was never able to provide food and often forgot to feed her kids so Marie kept a stash of food and water hidden in her room). In addition to food and water Marie tossed in spare bandages and a jagged nail filer (she's not taking the risk of being attacked in the middle of the night)

Looking at her work, Marie noticed a picture of her and her sister Connie. Connie was not the daughter of Marie's father. She was the daughter of some other man whom her mother had met one night at a club. Connie had just turned 11 years old and was not nearly as broken as Marie. She got her fair share of beatings, but not nearly as much as Marie. Connie was the only person who ever told Marie that things were going to be okay, and when Connie told her something, she believed it. Marie walked over to her desk and took out a piece of paper. She thought that if she was going to leave, she should at least let her sister know why.

Connie,

By the time you read this I will have left. I don't know where

I am going but I know that I just have to. If i stay in this house

Much longer I could possibly die. The abuse is just too much for

Any person to take and I hope you won't hate me for leaving you here alone.

I'm sorry, but it's for the best. I'll try to write to you and let you know

Where I am when I can, and if I found a safe place to stay.

I love you, my dear sister, remember that and be strong.

~Marie

She swung her bag back over her shoulder and took one last look around the room. This was it. She would leave this house and never come back. She picked up the note and walked out of room where she would once cower against the walls and cry. She placed a hand on the picture of her and her sister.


	2. Chapter 2: The Runaway and the Ghost

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING! Marie and her family are the only things that are mine. EVERYTHING ELSE GOES TO RICK RIORDAN

Marie's POV

I walked down the darkened hallway to Connie's room. She was so peaceful when she slept. I slipped into the room and placed the note on her nightstand. I felt a tear slip down my face. I would miss her. I pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes. And watched her for a while.

I left her room and walked down the stairs. My mother was still sitting on the chair with her bat and bottle of whiskey on the floor next to her. A fire was burning brightly in the fireplace. If i was going to do something, now was the time. I looked at the bat and saw all the times i was beaten and bruised because i simply existed. I picked up the weapon that caused me so much pain and threw it into the fire. I watched the orange flames consume it. I felt the need to sing my favorite song from Hamilton: Burn. I smiled evilly while watching the bat burn in the flames. "I hope that you burn." like this bat, the world had never been kind to me. Call me evil or whatever, but i want to watch all those who have hurt me to burn. i looked at my mother, she would never be able to harm another person with that bat again. Next my attention turned to the whiskey. That was the source of my mothers drunkenness. I picked up the bottle and looked at it. There was still a significant amount left in the dusty bottle. I took a swig and felt the liquid burn down my throat. I could see why she liked it.

As i walked out the door I took the whiskey with me, and threw it on the ground. The bottle shattered on impact. That thing was gone now. I walked down the side walk through the darkness. Atlantic city at night is beautiful when you're, what is the cool people say? Hitting the town. Where i live, it's a mess. Garbage all on the streets and sidewalks, burned out cigarettes and blunts littered most of the porches, there was the occasional syringe laying around (don't touch that shit, be good and don't do drugs). I walked until I was out of the crappy part and made my way towards the beach part where all the downtown stuff was. It was 11:30 and people were wandering the streets in search of something. Some were in search of companionship, some were looking for a way to forget some stuff, and some were like me: out on the streets right before tourist season, running from, or towards something.

I walked for about another hour, my legs ache from being on my feet all day. My backpack felt heavier than it had earlier. I should stop for a moment. It would be in my best interest to do so, but i wanted to get as far away from my house as possible. I walked for another hour and began to get really tired. I felt my eyes begin to close slightly. Just a bit further. I told myself. As I walked i began to weave back and forth. I felt my legs bend lower and lower until i was completely hunched over from the weight of my backpack. My stomach growled loudly and my throat begged for water. I hadn't eaten anything since lunch and I was starving. I could have stopped to rest, but i had to keep moving forward. Just a little longer. I felt myself fall. My eyes shut and I could feel gravity pulling me towards the earth. Just before I hit the ground I felt someone catch me.

I opened my eyes and looked up. What I saw shocked me. I saw a boy about my age wearing all black with messy hair and an aviator's jacket. What shocked me most was that he looked like a ghost.

"Who-?" I started to ask.

"I'm Nico di Angelo. I'm here to help you."

The boy called Nico pulled me up.m "you look starved," he said "lets get you something to eat."

He led me to a nearby McDonald's. The smell of burgers made my mouth water. I squinted at the fluorescent lights that blared through the darkness. We walked inside. A few people were in there, a shady looking man, an old woman, and the people working there.

The cashier lady eyed us suspiciously. "You two kids up to anything illegal?"

"Illegal? Come osi pensare che io e il mio amico siamo all'altezza di qualcosa di illegale! Ho avuto una giornata così dura e l'ultima cosa di cui ho bisogno è questa! Mi piacciono gli uomini. Mi piacciono gli uomini COSÌ TANTO CHE STO DANDO UNO. questa è discriminazione perché sono gay." Nico started to yell at the lady in what i recognized as italian. He was waving his hands around and everything. Apparently when you yell really fast in a language they don't understand they tend to back off. The lady looked so shook that she immediately started to apologize and asked us what we wanted. She made the mistake of calling us kids because Nico got fake mad again.

"Kids? We are the embodiment of death! We'll take two happy meals." he looked at me and said "you want a burger or nuggets?"

"Nuggets. 12 piece." i said, impressed that this scrawny pale boy could scare this lady into backing off.

"And a water for my friend!" nico called as the lady hurried back into the kitchen.

The lady brought our food out and Nico dropped eight crumbled up dollars on the counter and walked out the door.


	3. Chapter 3: Burgers and Burdens

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING AT ALL. MARIE AND HER FAMILY ARE THE ONLY ONES THAT BELONG TO ME. ALL CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN

Nico's POV

I led the girl out of the McDonalds and out to a picnic table and dug into the happy meal box. "So," I said to her. "What's your name?"

She looked at me hesitantly. "Marie. Marie Morales."

"Okay Marie, why'd you run away from home?" she looked down at her hands and hid them in her sleeves. "Oh, I see. You left because you were getting hurt."

"It's all my fault." she said barely above a whisper. She put her head down and did not look up.

"No it's not." I said to her. "Never, ever, say that it's your fault, because it isn't."

"It is though," she said looking up at me with tears in her eyes. "It is all my fault! My life's a mess, my mother has an alcohol and drug problem because of all the trouble i get into, I'm stuck with ADD, anxiety, and depression, I-I've been kicked-"

"Kicked out of every school you've been to? I thought so."

"Really? Is it that obvious that i'm a troubled kid?"

After what I had seen at the beach, there was no question about it. She's like me. Well no, not like me exactly. She looks more like Percy's kind. She has his eyes.

"Hey Nico?" she said in a small voice. "How did you find me?" she asked. I looked into her seagreen eyes.

"Don't run away or scream when i say this, but I could feel that you wanted to die." I paused a moment to wait for her reaction. She sat there, looking at me with her hair blowing gently across her face. "I could sense how much pain you were in and how much you wanted for it to all be over, to fade away into the darkness and just die. Well, once your stance on death changed and you left, I followed you. After what i had seen at the beach I knew that you were special."

"You saw what happened at the beach?" she said finally. Her eyes widened as if waiting for an answer as to why that happened.

"Yeah, I saw it all. I've only ever seen one other person do something like that and he, he's a very powerful person." I thought back to Percy's deep sea green eyes and naturally windswept black hair. A smug smile was etched on his face and his head was turned up as to say "Hey, Nico. wanna play Mythomagic?" in my wildest fantasy. Snap out of it di Angelo, you have a boyfriend and you're talking to someone.

"So you think i'm special?" Marie said as if unable to decide whether that was a compliment or an insult.

"Yes, I do. Marie I'm about to tell you something that will blow your mind." I had never given the Congrats! One of your parents is a greek god and that makes you a half-god. Come with me to a magical camp full of people like you and learn to fight monsters! Speech before. "Do you remember learning about the greek gods in school?"  
"Yeah of course, it was the one test I actually got an A on. Greek myths and language." she said looking a bit brighter.

"Well, those gods, the greek gods, still exist today. Matter of fact, all the gods exist. Greek, Roman, my one friend has a cousin who's the son of a Norse god, and I remember hearing something about egyptian gods, truth is I don't actually know how many types of gods there are right now. And they still have kids with mortals, and those kids are called halfbloods or Demigods." I paused again to see if she'd laugh or call me crazy. Instead she sat there and said "go on."

"There are dozens of demigods roaming the earth and they either live at Camp Jupiter, a place in California where the children of Roman gods live and train, or at Camp Halfblood, a place in New York where the children of the greek gods live and train."

She looked at me for a second then said "wait, so you're telling me that the gods, all the gods, still exist and, from what I'm gathering, you think I'm the child of one?"

I stared at her and blinked. "Uh, yes. You believe me?" i said in a shocked voice.

She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head upward like annabeth sometimes did. "We'll see. Go on"

"I do think that you're a Half-blood, I'm a halfblood. A son of Hades." she raised her eyebrows as i said this. "So, what do you think? Is this blowing your mind or what?"

She studied me for a moment. If it hadn't been for the beach and the eyes, I would have thought that she was a daughter of Athena.

"I think," she began to say with her eyes narrowed. "That I believe what you're saying."

"Really, you do?" I almost shouted. This is awesome! My first speech and i managed to convince her! "Well, um, great! What convinced you?"

"It would explain why my life is one big mess, and, you know, the beach." she said with a small laugh. She crumbled up her nugget box and chugged the last sips of her water. "I feel-"

"Tired? Weak?" i said as she blinked slowly.

"I feel. . ." she collapsed. Dam i failed. My first speech and she passed out.

I bent down and lifted her onto my shoulder and walked off to a shadowy corner. "What-" she said in a quiet and confused voice. "Okay Marie, we're gonna take a little trip." I said hoisting her up over my shoulder. "Hold on tight and don't scream." I closed my eyes and stepped into the darkness. I felt the cold shadow melt over me and compress my whole body. I heard the screams of lost souls trying to get out. I thought of my sister Bianca, and the thought that I would never see her again. These were dangerous thoughts, especially when shadow traveling. If you allowed yourself to submit to the darkest thoughts of the shadows you would become shadow. Before today, or yesterday or whatever, I hadn't shadow traveled since the last war, I almost became shadow. As we moved through the darkness I felt Marie's arms tighten around my torso.

We re-appeared at Thalia's Pine tree on the borders of Camp. it was still dark out and in the distance i could see the dim lights of the big house. I took a deep breath and started down the hill. I walked past the fragrant strawberry fields, the volleyball court, the wall, and finally I got to the cabin field. I saw cabin 1 and knew that my friend Jason Grace was sleeping soundly. His Girlfriend, Piper McLean was probably sleeping there tonight. I passed Cabin 3, and saw Percy Jackson through the window. I moved on and stopped in front of the golden cabin 7 and saw my boyfriend, Will Solace, sitting up in his bed reading a medical book. I smiled to myself. Half of me wanted to walk in there and remind the good doctor how important sleep is. But i decided against it.

I walked up the steps of the big house and knocked on the door. Chiron came to the door in with curlers in his hair, a bath robe that sat awkwardly over his horse body, and a facemask on. "Nico, as much as i enjoy your presence at camp, this is-oh." he saw Marie's body over my shoulder. "You-you didn't kill her did you?"

I was outraged at that comment "kill her?! Of course i didn't kill her! I found her running away from home, took her here, and she collapsed when we arrived."

"Good god's child," chiron said putting his hand over his chest. "You shadow traveled with her?"

"She was already passed out when i took her!" i realize what i had just said and Chiron realized it too. "That's not what I- I mean i did not- I repeat did not kidnap this girl."

I sighed. "Listen, she's a halfblood. I told her this, she believed me, then collapsed because she hadn't eaten all day."

Chiron moved out of the way of the door. "Put her here for tonight, we'll figure something out tomorrow."

I carried Marie inside the big house and walked into the living room. I laid her down on the couch and draped a blanket over her. "Hey Chiron?" i called. "I think I'm gonna stay for a while."

I left the big house and stopped in front of the Apollo cabin. Unaware that he was being watched, Will pulled off his orange camp t shirt. His back was covered in freckles and scars. His shirt was stuck over his head. Idiot. While he struggled he turned to face me- caldo maledetto. His torso was tan and the faint outline of his abs were covered in scars. He finally got his shirt off of his head and he saw me. I blushed pink, embarrassed that I had allowed myself to look at him struggle half-naked for that long. Then i remembered: wait, he's my boyfriend. I'm allowed to look at him like that for that long. He smiled at me as he came out of his cabin. "Hey." he said in that deep smouldering voice of his. His sweatpants were pulled down low enough so that I could see a letter V in his lower gut. His orange shirt was draped over his shoulder. I blushed even more. "H-hey." I said. His blonde hair was swept in front of his beautiful blue eyes. "Is your cabin empty?" he asked.

"Well that depends." i said, trying to sound as cool as him.

"On what?"

"On whether or not you decide to take my hand and go with me to my cabin."

I saw look down at the ground and heard him mutter "you smooth bastard." he took my hand and followed me to the gloomy Hades cabin. I'm not gonna tell you what happened after that because it is not appropriate for our younger viewers out there. But i will tell you that both Will and I got a good night's "sleep".


	4. Chapter 4: the start of my new life

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING! Marie is the only thing I own. All other credit goes to RICK RIORDAN

Marie's POV

I woke up in my sisters room. Connie, I thought. It was morning and she was just waking up. I watched as she looked around the room until her eyes fell on the note. She opened it and gasped. A tear rolled down her face and I felt so bad for leaving. Her stormy blue eyes now had tears in them. She got up and ran to my room. I was being pulled along by some force. Inside my room where she had hoped to find me sleeping or changing bandages, she found an unmade bed, clothes and bandages scattered on the floor, and a small trail of blood from a cut that had been reopened. "MOM!?" connie called. "Mom," she said running to our mom's room which was a mess of disgusting clothes, old pizza boxes, empty bottles of alcohol, and old cigarettes and blunts. "Mom, Marie. . . she ran away."

Our mother put down her cigarette and said "good. Glad she's gone. She can stay away forever if it means never having to deal with her again." she went back to smoking.

Connie got a furious look in her eyes I had never seen before. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Your daughter, your own flesh and blood, ran away because she couldn't stand your abusive tendencies, and all you can say is 'good'? Do you even care at all?" I wanted to yell at Connie because what she was saying was sure to get her killed. Our mother slid off her bed and walked right over to Connie, grabbed her by the back of the neck, and threw her down the stairs in one swift motion. "No," she said without a change of emotion. "I couldn't care less if that no good piece of shit were dead." connie looked up at her with tears forming as well as a fresh cut on her forehead.

Suddenly i was pulled out of the house.

I woke up the next day in a strange room. There was an animatronic leopard head on the wall-wait, that thing seemed so real it couldn't possibly be fake. Besides the strange leopard, there were all sorts of weird Greek stuff in there. Swords, spears, shields, sculptures, and, if those weren't strange enough, Frank Sinatra CDs. I got up and went to look at them. "They're original, limited condition, you know." said a voice from behind me. I jumped screamed: "AAH! A CENTAUR!" the centaur raised his eyebrows and said in a sarcastic voice, "Ahh! A new half-blood for me to train!"

I took a deep breath to try to take in what I was seeing. "Who are you and where the hell am I?"

He approached me. "My name is Chiron, yes the same one from the 'myths'. And you, Marie Morales, are in the Big House at Camp Half-Blood."

"You know my name." I said

"Yes child, I know many things. Including why you ran away from home."

I looked down at the floor and began to cry. "Don't tell anyone. I don't want them to think i'm weak."

"Weak?" the centaur said astounded. "My dear child, you have been so brave to stay in that house for so long, you could never be considered 'weak'"

There was a short silence.

"Nico di Angelo tells me that when he told you that you were a Half-blood you believed him, is that true?"

The events of yesterday streamed into my brain. "Yes." I said. "It's the only explanation as to why my life is one big fuck up." Chiron raised his eyebrows. "I mean, one big frickity frack up." i added. "Is that bad?"

"No, it is just very uncommon. Most people use words like "crazy" or "psychotic"

"Can't imagine why." i muttered.

"Now that you are feeling better, I think it's time you went on a tour of the camp." he led me to the door.

"Are you gonna show me the camp?" I asked.

The centaur laughed. "Haha, no, child. I have other things to attend to. But your friend, Nico has volunteered to show you camp."

He pushed open the door and Nico di Angelo was standing outside of it wrapping a scarf around his neck, which was odd considering it was around 80 degrees out "Oh. good you're better." he said looking relieved. I walked out onto the porch and looked at him. "Thanks," I said. "For, you know, not letting me die."

He gave me a small awkward smile. Clearly he was not used to people thanking him for things. "Heh, no problem." he said scratching the back of his head.

We walked away from the big house. "Why did you?" i asked him

He gave me a funny look. "Why what?"

"Why did you save me? People either want or try to kill themselves everyday, why did you single me out specifically?"

He looked down at the ground and looked extremely guilty. "Please don't think bad of me when I say this but, you really are special. You're one of the most powerful Demigods I've seen in awhile, I can tell just by looking at you. Please don't think of me as some cruel monster who doesn't care about other people's lives, I just wanted to bring you back to camp so you could be safe. I'm sorry."

Nico had a sad look in his eyes, like he was always getting blamed for things he didn't mean to do. I put my arms around him and hugged the son of Hades. "Thank you," I said. "I'm really glad you brought me to camp." Nico stood there shocked for a moment, he clearly hadn't expected me to hug him and I guess he was still getting over the shock of human contact. He patted me awkwardly on the back. "You're welcome." he said.

I let go of him. There was a feeling of mutual awkwardness in the air. "So," I said. "Shall we go see the camp?" Nico smiled at me. "You're gonna love it." we walked off of the Big house porch and stopped in front of a bunch of cabins. "These are the cabins." He said stopping in front of about 20 cabins in a U formation. "One for every god, goddess, and minor God. Little bit of background info before we begin, after World War II, the big three, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, made a pact to never again have children. Now this may seem crazy-then again we're at a magic camp for the children of gods- but i was alive during World War II, Zeus, tried to kill me and my sister, but killed my mother instead, but let's not get into my horrible and tragic past. Anyways, the Big Three had children again, and I'm one of them. The other five are Percy Jackson and Tyson, sons of poseidon. Hazel Levesque, the daughter of Pluto, my half-sister. Jason and Thalia Grace, the son and daughter of jupiter/zeus."

He led me to a strikingly blue cabin with lightning bolts on the front. I could only assume that this was the Zeus cabin. "This is the Zeus Cabin." Nico said. "It was originally supposed to be honorary, but then Zeus had kids. The next one," he said stopping in front of a sea stone cabin. "Is the Poseidon cabin. Home to one of the most powerful demigods, Percy Jackson." Nico sighed as he said this. I stepped closer to the cabin and felt that same feeling as when i was at the beach or when i thought about my father.

Nico showed me the rest of the cabins. As we walked on, I heard a voice yell, "Hey Nico!" we both turned around to see a tall tan boy with freckles and blonde hair. The boy straightened up and cleared his throat. He had unmistakable red marks on his neck and was blushing a fierce red. "You uh… you didn't come back for your follow up appointment. The uhh… throat check up. As your doctor i really must insist that you come back for a check up." Nico looked like he was constipated. His face was red and his mouth was clenched tight. "Later." he said through gritted teeth. The blonde boy turned around and walked back towards his cabin muttering something about how whenever he never gets to decide when it happens.

"So was that your boyfriend?" I said turning back to nico.

Nico blushed even redder. "Wh-what? How… why… what made you think that?"

I laughed. "I saw the way you were looking at each other all blushy and shit. And a 'throat check up'? I'm not stupid, Nico. i grew up in a part of town where i learned dirty terms almost a year after i could speak in full sentences."

Nico looked at the ground. "Please don't-"

"Hate you? Nico, you saved my life. I'm not gonna hate you because you're gay. Tons of people in my town are gay, and they could cut a bitch. hell, even I'm bisexual."

Nico smiled at me. he led me down towards the training grounds where a boy with dark hair was fiercely slicing up a dummy. The boy was a little bit older than i was. With a final slice of his sword, the dummy's head fell clean off. The boy then stabbed his sword into the ground and brought the bottom of his shirt up to his forehead to wipe away sweat. I heard Nico gulp, and then he yelled. "PERCY!" the boy turned his head up towards us. The first thing that struck me were his eyes; they looked exactly like mine. Sea green and bright. The boy called percy picked up his sword and jogged over to us. "Hey Nico." he said "new camper?" he said looking at me. "Yeah." nico said looking at me. "This is Marie Morales. Marie, meet Percy Jackson." Percy extended his hand and i shook his sweaty, blistery hand. "Nice to meet you, Marie. Welcome to camp." his eyes squinted and then widened. "Woah cool! Your eyes look just… just like mine? Wait a minute, Nico? Where did you find this girl?"

Nico looked Percy in the eyes with a serious look on his face. "At the beach."

Percy took a deep breath, and then shook his head muttering "it's probably nothing, just a coincidence."

"Hey Percy? Can you finish the tour? I've got.." he looked at me and blushed. "...a doctors appointment." Nico looked at me knowing full well that i knew what he meant.

Percy smiled a smug smile. "Yeah, you should go. Wouldn't want to make Will angry." nico blushed redder.

"See you at dinner, Marie." Nico turned around and walked back up the hill.

Percy turned to me. "So, I guess I'm finishing the tour. C'mon, I'll introduce you to some of the coolest people." he ran a few feet then ran back. "Almost forgot this." he said picking up his sword. He pulled a pen cap out of his pocket and put it on the tip of the sword. The dangerous looking weapon magically shrunk to a pen. "Cool right?" he said looking at my mesmerized expression. "Let's go!" he grabbed my arm and ran off towards the woods.

The further we got into the woods the more fighting noises were heard. Suddenly a boy who looked about Percy's age with blonde hair was thrown from a nearby patch of trees. He hit the ground with a thud and out of the trees came the most horrifying thing i'd ever seen(besides my mother when she's hungover from the alcohol and drugs.): A monster, at least 15 feet tall came lumbering out with razor sharp teeth and claws. The blonde boy stood up, raised his golden sword, and ran towards the monster. His sword clashed with the monsters claws, and he was thrown back again. "Percy?" I said frantically. "Don't you have a sword? Help him! We have to do something!" but percy merely smiled at me then looked at the boy. "Don't worry, he doesn't need our help. Just watch." I turned around nervously to see the blond boy get up again. He ran towards the monster, leaped into the air, almost like he was flying, swung his sword, and sliced the monsters head off with one strong swing. The head and body of the monster dropped to the ground and then evaporated in a cloud of black ash, leaving a smell of sulfur in the air.

The boy touched down to the ground and saw Percy and I. he wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked over to us. "Hey bro." Percy putting his fist out for a fist bump. "Sup bro?" the blonde boy said bumping Percy's fist. "Who's this?" he asked. Percy put his hand on my shoulder. "This is Marie Morales, she's a new camper, just came in last night."

"Hey Marie. I'm Jason Grace, nice to meet you." I remembered Nico told me about Jason Grace, the son of Jupiter. "Percy, bro, her eyes…"

"I know. We'll have to talk to Chiron or Rachel."

What was everyone's obsession with my eyes. So they look like Percy's, so what? I noticed that Jason had a small scar on his lip. Before I could stop myself I said, "why do you have a scar on your lip?" it was a stupid question, obviously he had gotten it in battle. Or maybe not because Percy was doubled over with laughter. "Sh-should you tell her or can I?" he said wiping a tear from his eye. "No." Jason said firmly. "Cause you'll just exaggerate the whole thing and make me look like an idiot in front of the new camper." he sighed. "Ok one time when i was at home, mind you I was really little at the time, i picked up a stapler from the ground and tried to eat it." he turned his head down in shame. I could tell that he tried to uphold an image of perfection, a temple that could not be broken down. This really bothered him, he hated that he did something like bite a stapler, even though he was really young. I'm sure it didn't help that percy was laughing his ass off . I smiled at jason. "It's okay, I tried to bite a crab once when i was at the beach. It pinched me, and i swear, the thing actually spoke and said that he expected better from someone like me."

Percy stopped laughing. Both he and Jason looked at each other and nodded. "I'll ask Rachel." jason said "see ya, bro." he jogged off further into the woods. "What was that about?" i asked. Percy shook his head. "Don't worry about it right now. It's probably just a coincidence. Come one, I got someone else i want you to meet."


	5. Cpt5: Cien fuegos ardieno en mi corazón

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING! Marie and her family is the only character that is mine. ALL OTHER CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN

Leo's POV

I tossed and turned as I slept that night. I was reliving one of the most painful times. My whole body was was in immense pain. I was dying. While fire normally didn't hurt me, I also was attached to a flaming and screaming Gaea. It was awful. Even worse was when I came back to life and landed on Ogygia, I found Calypso, the girl I came back to life for and was going to free from her prison, with another boy. The other boy was far more handsome than I was and he and Calypso were looking at each other the same way she was when I told her I was coming back for her. Now I was back for her and she was there with another guy. She was laughing. Laughing the same way she used to laugh when I was with her. Next my dumb self stepped on a branch and broke it. Calypso's head snapped around swinging her braid in her face. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit.

She walked over to where I was hiding. "Leo?" she said in her perfect voice. "You. . . you came back." tears began to form in her eyes. I didn't want to feel bad for her, but she was so beautiful when she cried. "You actually found your way back!" she moved in to hug me and i stepped back. "Leo what's-what's wrong?"

"What's wrong? You were just sitting on the beach with a very handsome boy meer weeks after I left and promised to come back for you." she looked like I had just told everyone her biggest secret.

"Leo, it's the gods testing me." she said grabbing my hands. "Please believe me, Sam said that he went to sleep one night and next thing he knew he was falling from the sky. I only love you leo."

"You were laughing, and you looked at him like you looked at me!"

"Leo. . ."

"Forget it, i only came back to life to find you-"

"You came back to life for me?" she said with a smile.

"I wanted to free you from this place like you've always wanted! But now I guess you've got a reason to stay now, don't you?"

Calypso looked hurt, like I was slut shaming her or something.

"Leo, I've been stuck on this island for thousands of years. I was here when Odysseus showed up when he was traveling the sea. I've seen people come and go from this place for milenia. When I met you, I actually thought I was going to be able to leave with you and be happy."

She held my hands again and smiled at me. "Please believe me."

I sighed. "Ok. I believe you."

She kissed me. It was just as good as our first.

"Wanna get out of here?" I asked. She smiled at me and nodded her head.

"I'd like that."

We walked back to where sam was sitting.

"Hey sam!" Calypso called. He looked over at us. "We're gonna take off. There's food in the cave and you can make yourself at home. Maybe in a few decades someone will come along and give you some company. If you live that long." we both laughed as Festus came flying down and carried us away. Sam was left sitting stupidly in the sand, confused as to why a beautiful girl was leaving him for a random latino elf man who had just died and came back to life. Maybe we were a bit cruel to him. To this day i still don't know what happened to Sam.

The dream changed. Now I was at camp, reliving my break up with her that occured only a year ago. We were arguing. We fought about everything when we got to camp. The first argument was that she didn't have a cabin to stay in because there weren't any cabins for the children of Titans, so she wanted to move in with me. I told her I that I wasn't ready for that and she wasn't a child of hephaestus (that would be hella weird) and just because i was councillor didn't mean i could bend the rules for her just because she's my girlfriend. She didn't like that. She told me that this was so typical of boys. We fought for over an hour before she stormed out of the cabin to ask Chiron for a place to stay. Eventually she realized that it was was too soon for us to move in together. The next major argument we had was when she thought I wasn't spending enough time with her. That was actually a problem and I did everything i could to fix it.

The night we broke up, we mutually agreed that we didn't feel the same was when we were beginning our relationship nine months ago. We were walking along the beach when we told each other.

"Leo I have to tell you something." she said suddenly.

"Yeah, me too. You go first."

"I don't love you anymore. I'm sorry."

I was initially shocked, but i was going to tell her the same thing. "Yeah I agree, I just don't feel the same at this point."

"So we're in agreement that we should just . . . break up? Is that what it's called?"

She was breaking up with me. "Yeah, let's. . . let's break up."

"Leo I really am sorry, i just don't-"

I turned away from her. Yeah sure I felt the same. But i wasn't expecting her to break it off just like that.

"Can we at least stay friends?" I asked.

She smiled. "Yeah. yeah I'd like that." I said.

We gave each other a slightly awkward hug and I walked her back to her own personal cabin in the woods.

The dream changed again this time it changed into an image of a weapon: A blue two-pronged spear that could contract into a smaller weapon for close up fighting. The dream had been sent to me by my father Hephaestus, the god of the forge, and he wanted me to make it.

I woke up in my own personal place in cabin 9. I pressed a button and my bed lifted up to the main floor in the cabin. My siblings were scattering around. "Leo! Thank the gods you're finally awake. We've all been up for hours! I even had time to forge two new swords and beat Nyssa in a fight." my younger sister Harley said. Harley was a young girl, no more than 11. Don't let her age fool you though, she she could beat you up, steal your lunch money, and then build a deadly weapon all while sipping a juice box.

"She only beat me because I was tired and hadn't eaten breakfast." she glared at me. "No thanks to you."

"How is that my fault?" i asked

"Because we have to wait for our councilor to take us down to breakfast. I'll have you know that when you were dead and taking a leisure trip cross country and then went to Rome, I had us down to breakfast promptly every morning." she folded her arms and stuck her nose in the air. As if it were better when i was dead.

"Oh, you mean when the romans invaded camp and you all lived in fear of being killed? And besides, I know you've been seeing that girl Alex, from the Hermes cabin. Why couldn't you just ask her to sneak you some food?"

I heard a bunch of "ooooohhhhh"s from my siblings. Nyssa turned a bright red and clenched her fists. "I-... that's… how did you? How dare-?"

I pulled on my orange camp shirt and snapped my suspenders to my trusty tool belt (which i never let leave my side.)

"Come on kiddos, lets go to breakfast."

We walked down the hill to the dining pavilion. Everyone was clutching growling stomachs. I wasn't aware that they were waiting for us.

"Oh good, Leonard Squares has decided to grace us with his presence." Mr. D said rolling his eyes. He always got the campers names wrong.

"Always a pleasure Mr. Dinosaur." i looked around "where's Chiron?"

"He, ah, has to take care of… something in the big house."

Food appeared on our plates. I looked over the fields to see my best friend, Piper McLean, running down the hill from the zeus cabin while pulling on a cardigan and trying to hide the marks on her chest with her shirt. I rolled my eyes. "Running a little late, eh Pipes?"

"Oh haha." she said. Her face turned to confusion. "Wait? Where are my siblings?" it dawned upon her. Campers have to wait for their councilor to take them to breakfast. "oH sHIt!" she ran back up the hill towards the aphrodite cabin. Jason Grace, her boyfriend, came floating down the field as he always did every morning. Waving his hand as if he were the queen of england. "Good morning my fellow campers, your Pontifex is here." he sat down alone at the zeus table.  
After breakfast, we all split up to our activities. Jason went off into the woods to fight monsters, percy went off to the arena, Annabeth went to the camp library, Piper went to the arts and crafts station, and I went off to the forges. I had to forge that weapon. I didn't know who it was for, but i new they were powerful. I must have worked on that spear for hours. The formation of it was easy, but it was the power inside it that was difficult. This thing, I didn't know what it could do yet, but i knew it could control something. Just as I was putting it in the water to cool, Percy walked down with a girl with sea green hair. She was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. Her skin looked soft and warm, she was tall, wore baggy clothes, looked like she could kiss me and rip my heart out at the same time. I smoothed my unruly hair back - as if that did anything- and walked over to them.

Percy sauntered down the hill while the girl held her arms and looked at the ground.

"Hey Leo." percy said. "How's it going?"

"Eh you know. Who's this?"

"This," Percy said as the girl raised her head. "Is Marie Morales. Marie, this is Leo Valdez."

I got a better look at her face. She had scars on her cheeks and freckles sprinkled across her nose.

"Marie, eres como el sol, que se levanta sobre el agua. eres tan hermosa como una diosa, eres como una bendición de los mismos dioses. estoy bendecido de estar en tu presencia."

I kissed her hand. Marie smiled at me and narrowed her eyes.

"Leo Valdez, ¿verdad? ciertamente tienes una manera de hablar, aunque estoy seguro de que no eres tan suave cuando hablas con una chica en inglés."

She can speak perfect spanish. Could this girl get any better? "Apparently not. It's a pleasure to meet you." I raised my hand to give her a high five. Instead of high fiving me, she punched me in the stomach. "Good punch." I managed to gasp before falling to the ground in a fetal position. She ran off. Why did she punch me? Did she think that I was going to… hit her?

A/N:

Marie, eres como el sol, que se levanta sobre el agua. eres tan hermosa como una diosa, eres como una bendición de los mismos dioses. estoy bendecido de estar en tu presencia." Means "Marie, you are like the sun, rising on the water. you are as beautiful as a goddess, you are like a blessing from the gods themselves. i am blessed to be in your presence"

And ""Leo Valdez, ¿verdad? ciertamente tienes una manera de hablar, aunque estoy seguro de que no eres tan suave cuando hablas con una chica en inglés." Means "leo valdez, is it? you certainly have a way with words, but im sure you aren't nearly this smooth when talking to a girl in english?


	6. Chapter 6: Daughter of the Water

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING AT ALL! ALL CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN

(Marie's POV)

Percy and I walked down the hill from the woods. From the top, I could see a fire burning bright. A boy, about my age, was sitting there, poking something in the fire. He was a short latino boy with curly brown hair, dark eyes, pointed ears, and a smirk that never went away. He looked like a Latino Christmas elf. When he saw us coming, he smoothed his curly hair back (as if that did anything). Percy and I walked down the hill towards the boy.

"Hey Leo." percy said. "How's it going?"

"Eh you know. Who's this?" the boy called Leo said

"This," Percy said as I raised my head to look at him. "Is Marie Morales. Marie, this is Leo Valdez."

Leo's eyes widened.

"Marie, eres como el sol, que se levanta sobre el agua. eres tan hermosa como una diosa, eres como una bendición de los mismos dioses. estoy bendecido de estar en tu presencia."

He kissed my hand. I eyed him suspiciously. Seriously, I'm not here five minutes and he's hitting on me? And in Spanish to! The nerve of some people!

"Leo Valdez, ¿verdad? ciertamente tienes una manera de hablar, aunque estoy seguro de que no eres tan suave cuando hablas con una chica en inglés." I said. He looked shocked that I could speak Spanish. If he only knew how many times i had called sherry thomas a 'no good whore'.

"Apparently not. It's a pleasure to meet you." leo said.

Then everything went to shit. He raised his hand at me. I panicked, thinking he was going to hit me (when you grow up in an abusive home, you have to be able to defend yourself.) as his hand dangled in the air, I punched him. He doubled over, clutching his stomach. "Good punch." he gasped before falling to the ground. I turned on my heel and ran back up the field. Flashbacks of my past flashed through my mind. The beating I had gotten only yesterday made me cry. I stopped and sat down by the beach. Long Island Sound. I breathed in the sea air and sighed. I buried my head in my arms. I sobbed first quietly, then when i realized that I was alone, i sobbed louder. I tugged my sleeves and cuffs down to hide all my scars and bruises.

"Hey, Marie?" I heard Percy's voice say. I sniffled, and whipped away my tears.

"Oh. Hey Percy."

"Are… are you … okay?"

"Y-yeah. I'm f-fine."

"No. you're not fine." he sat down next to me. who the hell did this boy think he was? Thinking that he understood my pain? I wanted to throw a rock at his head, but deep down, i knew he was right.

"Listen," he said looking out at the ocean. "I know that I can't possibly understand what you've been through before you got here, but can i just ask, why did you hit Leo?"

I looked down at the ground. A tear fell off my face and landed in the sand.

"I… I thought that he…" i took a deep breath, embarrassed that i had hit someone and run off. "I thought that he was going to hit me."

"What? Why did you think he was gonna-" he stopped when he saw my scars. "Oh. oh Marie I-" he was at a loss for words.

I started to cry some more. He put his arm around me awkwardly, like he didn't know how to comfort someone. I put my arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. The way he let me cry into his shoulder made him seem like a big brother type. I looked at Percy. "Hey, percy? Why does everyone keep mentioning my eyes?"

He looked at me and sighed, as if my eyes were a bad thing. "Your eyes, they're sea green, like mine. Sea green eyes is a typical trait for children of Poseidon."

"Are you saying that my godly parent is-"

"-I can't be sure of anything. All we can do is wait for you to be claimed, but then there's your hair, did you dye it or-"

"I was born like this. My mother calls it 'my curse'."

"Right, and you said something about a crab saying something to you at the beach once?"

"Yes." i blinked. "Why?"

"It's just that talking to sean animals is a child of poseidon power. Have you always felt a strong connection to the beach?"

"Yes, i live close to the beach, so i usually go there after school when I- when I can't go home." i looked at the ground.

"Do you feel… different at the beach?"

"I feel… something. Usually when I'm at the beach I think about my father. I have no memories of him except for one, faint and distant one."

"Were you at the beach?"

I blinked in astonishment. "Yes. i always feel closest to my father when at the beach."

Percy ran his fingers through his hair. He stood up and walked into the water. "I'm going to show you something."

He closed his eyes and concentrated. Suddenly, water burst up into the air. It was insane, i had never seen anything like it. He smiled at my reaction.

"How are you doing that?" I yelled.

Percy smirked. "Heh, the water does what i tell it." he made the water stop. "And i think you're able to do it too."

I blinked at him. Could I? After what happened at the beach, it seemed possible.

"Here, just, concentrate on something."

I thought about my mom, i imagined that i made a giant wave rise, and I was drowning her. Was that a bit dark? Maybe, but she deserved it at any rate. A wave shot up from the water and overwhelmed Percy, pinning him to the ocean floor.

"PERCY!" i screamed. The water flattened out again. He stood up from the water, have drenched, half dry. "That was… wow, Marie. How-?

I looked at my hands, stunned that I had almost killed someone who could potentially be my brother.

"I… I don't-? Did I hurt you?"

"No don't worry, I can breath underwater." he looked pretty shaken. As if he were afraid of drowning.

"What were you thinking of?"

"My mom."

"Is that why you almost drowned me?" he said the word 'drowned' with a shudder.

I looked down at the ground. Percy walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder,

"Look, I have no idea if you're a child of Poseidon or not, but I hope you are. You can do great things, Marie. You're powerful, almost _too powerful._ "

Percy's eyes suddenly went wide. "m-Marie!" he stuttered.

"What? Do i have something in my teeth?"

"N-no! You're head."

"There's something on my head?" i started patting my hair. I walked over to the water to look at my reflection.

"WHAT THE FRICK-FRACK- PATTY- WACK- SNICK- SNACK- SHIT- SHACK -FUCK- SHMUCK IS THAT?!" i screamed. There was a glowing green trident floating above my head.

Percy was on the ground laughing his ass off. "Marie! We do not use language like that in my good greek camp!"

"PERCY WHAT THE FUCK IS ON MY HEAD!?"

Percy stood up, dusting the dirt off his orange shirt. "Well, marie, it would seem that I should start calling you 'little sis'."

I let that sink in. "Wait-? Does that mean that I've been-"

"Claimed? Oh, yeah, you've been claimed."

I had mixed emotions of joy and panic. I had just been claimed by an ancient greek god who wasn't supposed to have children. The sand beneath me began to rumble. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening…"

"Marie," Percy said. "Calm down, this means that you finally have a father-"

"Oh yeah, then where is he?!" the ground shook even more.

"Woah, h-how are you-?" he began to say. "Earthquakes. Of course."

He stopped me from pacing and held my shoulders. "It's okay, you're gonna be okay." He pulled me into a hug. It felt nice to have a big brother to take care of me.

Suddenly, a blonde girl with a knife in her hand came running up to us with an angry expression on her face. What I did next should have gotten me killed. I was untrained, inexperienced, unprepared, had no weapon, and was far too emotional to be able to fight effectively. But I wasn't going to let anyone hurt my brother, no matter how new to me he may be. I grabbed Percy by the arm and pulled him into the water behind me. Determined not to let anyone hurt percy, I swung my hand backwards above my head. An arc of water shot up from the ocean. The girl was right in front of me.

"Who the hades are you?" the blonde girl yelled.

"Marie Morales. If you try to hurt Percy, I'll-"

"Hurt Percy? I'm here to hurt you, you stupid slut!"

Almost every guy in my school had called me that after i said no when they tried to ask me out. My eye twitched. "Big mistake." i said. The water was aimed straight at her head. With enough force, i could knock her to the ground and keep the water wrapped around her head. I was pretty sure that she couldn't breathe underwater like percy and I (probably) could. I brought my hand down. In a flash the water moved towards her, she didn't even have time to react, but at the last second, the jet curved up. I looked behind me to see Percy with his hand up, controlling the water. I shouldn't have turned my back on the angry blonde girl. She kicked me in the face and sent me flying into the water. I stood up. Now that I was actually able to do something, I pushed forward and pulled a wave with me. But the blonde girl was ready, she stood with her knife out in front of her, crouched down in a defense position.

I raced forward, narrowing my eyes. Yet again, percy interfered at the last minute. I was three feet from the blonde girl, she moved her knife out to stab me. Percy jumped in between us. I took a sharp turn to the right to avoid hurting Percy, the blonde girl lowered her knife.

"Percy," she said. "Why the hades were you hugging this random girl?"

"Annabeth!" percy gasped. "Take a good look at her, specifically above her head."

She looked up at me, her eyes widened. "No… it-it can't be!"

"It is." Percy said.

The girl tucked her knife away. "I'm sorry for trying to attack you and calling you a slut. I thought that you were like, hitting on percy.

I shuddered. "It's okay. I thought that you were trying to hurt Percy and I just couldn't-" I thought back to all the times my mother had beaten Connie because she was foolish enough to help me. I couldn't do anything to help her because I was usually on the floor, too dazed and hurt to do anything. "-couldn't let that happen."

"That's understandable. I'm Annabeth Chase, Percy's girlfriend." she shook my hand.

"Ooohh. Percy's _girlfriend?"_ i said with a sly smile.

Percy turned a slight shade of red. "Best thing that ever happened to me." he said with a shrug. "Come one, we should go to the big house, chiron will want to see this."

We walked up to the big house and knocked on the door. Chiron opened it and took a step back from me, as if he were scared of me.

"Ah, well this is a strange development… though this does complicate things. I suppose you want your stuff so you can move into your new cabin?"

"Yes." I said and collected my backpack from the big house living room, then followed percy to my new home.

The poseidon cabin was a low, long building made of rough sea stone embedded with seashells. Inside the cabin was beautiful. There were only a few bunks, and every window had a fantastic view of the sea. Miniature sea animals hung from the ceiling, which gave off a rainbow light when the sun hit it. A fountain sat in the corner, spouting water. Percy fished a golden coin out of his pocket and handed it to me. "This is called a Golden Drachma, the currency of the gods. Throw it at the rainbow and say 'O Goddess accept my offering'. You can talk to whoever you want with it."

I took the coin out of his hand and thought about who I would talk to. connie. I thought.

I tossed the at the wall and said "O Goddess accept my offering. Show me, Connie Morales. 767, Laurens street, atlantic city, New Jersey." the rainbow shimmered. I started to cry when I saw her. My sister, with fresh bruises on her face, was sitting at her desk, with my note in her hand. "Connie." i said.

She dropped the note and let out a small shriek. "Marie! How-why-what?! Where are you"

"I'm okay. I'm not hurt. I'm at a safe place now, a place where I'm not beaten, but rather embraced for who I am." I said with a smile.

"How is this happening?" connie said with a panic.

"I'm not sure… I kinda just threw a coin at a rainbow and poof, you appeared."

"It's the goddess Iris, who is making this message happen." percy said, making his bed from behind me.

"Who's there with you?" Connie said looking around.

"Oh, this-" I grabbed percy's arm and dragged him into view. "Is percy-"

"-Jackson." percy said.

"Percy jackson. He's my half brother."

Connie looked at me with wide eyes. "You're- you found your father?" she said with a tone of abandonment air in her voice.

"He kind of found me." i said with a chuckle. I noticed how sad she looked, I had seen that same look on my face several times. "Hey, look at me," I wanted her to understand that I wasn't going to leave her. "Listen, I'm never gonna forget about you, my first family. You mean the world to me." she smiled a little. "And besides, you can come visit me here." she smiled more. She looked like she was about to say something, when my hideous monster of a mother yelled something at my sister.

"I've got to go!" she said hastily. "I'll see you again; I promise."

"Goodbye! I lov-" I managed to say before she swiped her hand through the mist.

A tear slid down my face. I can't believe I left her all alone in that place.

"That was your sister, huh?" Percy said.

I wiped the tear from my face. "Yeah she, uh… she's the best thing in my life."

"I know that she means the world to you, but you shouldn't have promised her that she can visit you. Mortals can't cross through the barrier."

"What do you-?"

"Only halfloods can get in. I'm sorry."

I started to cry a little. "It's alright." I looked around the room and saw one other bunk that was slopilly unmade. "Whose bunk is that?"

Percy looked at the bunk. He smiled a little, like he was remembering some awesome and hilarious adventure. But his head turned down, and he looked so sad. "He used to live here but he uh… doesn't, anymore. The last time I saw him was about three years ago, and he left suddenly and I couldn't say a good enough goodbye. I don't really wanna talk about it."

I felt a little sad for him. I had to do something to distract him.

"Hey so I should probably go apologize to that Leo kid."

"Don't worry about it. Besides, you're not the first and you certainly won't be the last girl to punch Leo Valdez."

"Oh so he's _that_ kind of guy." i said.

"Well he tries, but he's just too-"

"Leo?"

"Yes." then gave me a small smile. "I don't know what he was saying to you in spanish, but i know that it made you blush." he said slyly.

"Shut up!" I laughed and punched him. Out of nowhere i was snatched up into the air. I screamed, and kicked the body of the thing that had grabbed me. I looked it in the face. It had one eye. A cyclopes. "Let me go!" I kicked its eye and it dropped my onto the ground. It staggered back with his hand over its eye, when it recovered, it yelled. "Nobody hurts big brother Percy!" I was about to strike but had to think about what it had said. Percy jumped in between us. "Guys wait!" he said. "Marie, this is our little-well actually, I don't know when you were born so maybe he's not _your_ little brother-but he's our brother."

I remembered that Cyclopes were children of Poseidon too. "Oh, My mistake." I said quietly, looking up at him. "I'm Marie, so I guess I'm your half-sister." he shook my hand, almost crushing it in the process.

"I am Tyson. I'm sorry for scaring you, I just like to protect Percy. He's the best brother in the world."

"He is isn't he?" i said quietly.

Tyson's eyes widened. And he pulled both me and percy into a bone-crushing hug. "Daddy answered my prayers again!"

"He did?" percy asked.

"Yes! I asked daddy to make Percy not feel lonely while I am gone, and he gave us you!"


	7. Chapter 7: I Go On a Date with Octavian

I do not own ANYTHING! all credit goes to Rick Riordan.

Rachel's POV

Allow me to start off by saying that I am _not_ a demigod, though I do live part time at Camp. I'm a mortal girl who happens to have the gift of Sight. My first encounter with this world happened when my head was nearly sliced off by some rando at the Hoover Dam, after that, I was involved with countless other quests involving monsters, titans, and one very old robot. Now, I hold the Oracle of Delphi inside of me. It's strange, but useful. It's really strange when one minute you're eating a bowl of lucky charms in your cave (yes I live in cave, it's nicer than it sounds) and the next minute you're on the ground while green smoke is pouring out of your mouth and you're spewing some prophecy about how the world is going to end and one of your friends is going to die.

Today started as a normal day. I ate breakfast at the head table, went to the arts and crafts station to teach the younger campers how to make greek statues, at lunch by myself in my cave, and then painted for a bit. Things got stranger when a certain scrawny, blonde haired, roman walked into my cave. "Oracle." he said as he stood in the entrance.

"Octavian I told you to call me Rachel."

"Rachel," he said like he was unworthy to speak my name. "Under normal circumstances I would not have made the long distance from California to New York but, seeing as it is almost the summer solstice and the celebration lasts almost the entire month, I figured I would come to see the Camp in the summer."

"You can come in." I said as he was hovering in the doorway.

"Thank you." he said as he made his way into the cave. "I brought you something, I realized that I never gave you a christmas present and i figured that I probably should, you know, Oracle to Oracle." I had forgotten that he was the roman oracle. He handed me a stuffed teddy bear with a red bow around its neck. I hesitantly took the bear.

"Thanks, um, you're not expecting me to cut it open and sacrifice it to the gods are you?"

He laughed. "No, I really want you to have it."

"Wow, thanks, Octavian." I set the bear down on my bed. " you can sit down you know."

He sat down awkwardly on top ove one of the sheets i used to cover my canvases.

There was about five minutes of awkward silence until the both of us broke the silence at the same time

"How are things in the Greek world?" he said.

"How are things in the Roman world?" I said. "Oh, I'm sorry, you can go."

"How are things like, school and stuff?" he asked.

I had to think for a minute. I had spent the school year at Clarion Ladies Academy. That school literally sucks ass. The entire education is based around teaching young girls how to be clueless socialites. I had other plans.

"Ummm, school is you know, it sucks."

"What's wrong with it?"

"What isn't wrong with it!" i said as i threw my hands up into the air. "The uniform is so stupid, the rules against abstract art are so infuriating that I actually had to start an underground paint club! And oh my gods we have an entire class on how to properly sip and spill tea!"

"What does 'spilling tea' mean?"

"Basically it's when people tell other people all the secrets they know about you."

He looked down. "Oh, well then i guess people have definitely 'spilled the tea' about me." he said in a small voice. "Anyway, what else is wrong with your school?"

I wondered why this roman, who three years ago had literally told me that I wasn't good enough to be Apollo's oracle, cared so much about me or my school. " why do you care about my school so much?" I took out a brush and started to paint on a canvas. My visions usually came out while i was painting. The image was of the ocean, but the ocean was on fire. What did this mean?

"I don't really care about your school, I care about you." Octavian had said with a shaky voice. I stopped my painting.

"Octavian-"

"I like you, and I don't know when exactly this started but I know that i definitely like you."

"Is that why you gave me the bear?" I asked, shocked that he actually had feelings for me, let alone had feelings at all.

"Yes. and I heard that the stars here are beautiful at night,"

"Octavian what are you-?"

"Miss Rachel Elizabeth Dare, will you go out with me tonight?"

I didn't know what to say. Even though I was the oracle and all, I had no idea that Octavian felt this way. My first instinct was to say 'no', because that whole roman invasion thing. But part of my brain whispered in my ear: _what if? What if you went on a date with him and things turned out great?_

"You know what? I think I feel another prophecy coming on!" i faked my prophecy fit.

"What do you see?" Octavian asked as he rushed over to me to make sure that I was ok.

" _The Oracle of Apollo and the Roman shall follow_

 _The stars in the sky where one lucky guy_

 _Shall earn what he desires,_

 _And a night that ends in fire."_ I 100% made that up, I had a plan to remember all that and end the night with a bonfire.

"What was that?" octavian asked.

"That was a Prophecy!" I faked. "I think i'm destined to go out with you.'

That night we did exactly as i 'foretold'. We walked along the beach, following the stars, and at the end of the walk, a bonfire, made by leo, was waiting. "A night that ends in fire." octavian said softly. He walked me back to my cave after that with a satisfied look on his face. "Can I maybe come back tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes I think so."

He came back the next day around early afternoon. We sat on the floor and discussed roman art and poetry. We laughed at Apollo's haikus. "Rachel my I try something?" Octavian asked

I thought for a moment about all the things he could possibly want to try. He might want to try human sacrifice, he might want to try burning down the big house, he might want to try some weird 'sleep' thing. Then again, he might just want to kiss me… even if it is some weird thing, annabeth taught me how to judo-flip someone.

"Sure, go ahead." he leaned in and kissed me. I must admit it was nice. When we pulled away he looked at me.

"That was… wow." he said quietly. I leaned in this time and kissed him. It was a nice moment until I heard a cough from my cave opening. Jason Grace, the Pontifex and son of Jupiter was standing there with a look of pure uncomfortableness and awkwardness on his face. He looked like one of those memes that look like : | but like 10x more awkward.

"Uuummm," he said. "Right, well you're obviously busy so I'll just come back later…"

"It's fine, Jason what is it."

"There's a girl who arrived at camp last night. Her hair is sea green and her eyes-"

He paused and I got a vision. A girl just as jason had described was making the water at a beach explode. I saw her eyes. They were-

"Just like percy's." i finished. "I'll get right to it."

"Yeah you should… finish up." he looked at us sitting awkwardly. "Octavian, you be good to the oracle now." he left before i could strangle him.

"What new halfblood?" octavian asked. "Is she Greek or Roman?"

"Greek, and things just got a whole more crazy."

"What do you mean?"

"The next Great Prophecy… It's all gonna start with her arrival at camp."

"You spoke the next Prophecy?" he asked with awe.

I shook my head. "Just glimpses. An ocean on fire, the whole world in turmoil, a horrible monster destroying everything… it's been giving me nightmares for months."

Octavian hugged me. "It'll be ok."


	8. Chapter 8: the haunting of a goddess

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING ALL CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN

Hebe POV

Hebe… hear my voice young one.

"Shut up!" I yelled as i slept. I shut my eyes and pulled my silk covers over my head. "Go away, go away, go away!"

Hebe, I know what you want… you are the only one who can help me. An ancient and evil voice whispered in my ear.

The embarrassed you… made you drop your robes in front of all the gods. You didn't even get your own cabin at that pathetic camp until that infernal hero Perseus Jackson. It whispered. You deserve this, my dear hebe. Punish your family, make them realize how much power you hold in your hands.

"Get out of my head, please just leave me in peace." I began to sob. The voice was so horrible, and so tempting. I flashed back to a millenia ago, when my horrible family made me trip, spill nectar, and drop my robes. I knew the voice was right, I did have the power to do this, I could force all of the olympians to wither away to dust at the snap of my fingers.

Yes… you understand now. You see how they've mistreated you.

I began to sob harder. The abuse I've suffered over the years, it is unbearable. Being forced to wed my father's son, and then watching him die… the things i've seen and was forced to do still haunted me after centuries. I literally watched as my mother threw my brother, and her own son off of Olympus because of how he looked.

"Who are you?" I sobbed. I appeared in the bottom of a large and dark pit. My eyes widened with fear. I had never actually been in this place before. It had never spoken to anyone, it had not stirred since he mated with Gaea. "Tartarus." I said with a shaking voice.

Yes, my young one.

I looked around the pit hellscape prison. Monsters roamed around, half formed and evil

"How are you… talking to me?" i asked hesitant, unsure of what would happen.

Because I am-what is it that those pathetic mortals call it? A common noun. I'm a person, a place, and a thing.

I began to laugh. What are you laughing at you stupid fool?

I straightened up. "Sorry." I thought about what he was offering. A chance to fix everything.

You're mind is made up now, it would seem.

"Well I'm not- yes. My mind is made up.

Then it is decided.


	9. Chapter 9: dinner and a meet’n’greet

I OWN NOTHING AT ALL! ALL CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN AND (this chapter) THE WRITERS AND PRODUCERS OF THE LIGHTNING THEIF MUSICAL

Marie's POV

The sky began to get slightly darker as a horn blew, signaling dinner. So far, this place was sublime. Beautiful architecture, fantastic people, and just an air of goodness and wonderfulness. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to leave. I walked down to the dining pavilion with Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson. Annabeth split off and went to go sit with her siblings in the Athena table. We sat down at the Poseidon table, it looked exactly like all the others. I took that as a sign that said this was a place of equality. Where it didn't matter how powerful you or your parent was, it didn't matter where you came from or who you were before you came to camp. You had a place here and people who cared about you. I had never known anything like that before.

Dinner was fantastic, the people who served us-dryads i believe- brought whatever we wanted. I asked for something simple, something warm, gooey, and always made me feel better after a rough beating. Connie's mac-and-cheese. It wasn't like that Kraft stuff, it was homemade and I couldn't help but smile when I smelled it. The set the bowl down along with a shirley temple. It was like I was sitting in a bar on the beach back home. People shuffling around me, laughing, eating, and enjoying themselves. I was about to take a bite when percy stopped me, shaking his head. He and tyson stood up along all the rest of the kids, and walked over to a fire and began scrapping some in. I stood up and followed them.

"Why is everyone scrapping part of their food into the fire?" I asked Percy.

"Offering to the gods." he said with a shrug. "It's not enough that they're worshiped and all powerful, they need to be appreciated. if you want something done, dump part of your food in there and pray. Pray for what you want, and pray that dad listens."

I scooped up some of the mac and cheese and dumped it into the fire. "Hey dad-er, Poseidon. Please, watch over connie for me, make sure that Mom can't hurt her." I prayed in my head.

We all sat back down and ate the rest of or food. It was nice, to have people to talk to while I ate. Normally I sat by myself in the back corner at the cafeteria, or wore something that normally made me feel uncomfortable to a bar or restaurant so that they'd give me free food. The only times I ate at home was when Connie was making mac and cheese just for me. And distracted out mother while I snuck up stairs with a pack of sodas for me and her. I wished that she was here now. I wished that she was sitting at this table with the rest of us, laughing and eating delicious food.

"Hey marie," percy interrupted my thoughts. Maybe that wasn't a bad thing. "Come meet the rest of my friends."

He led me over to a table full of kids who I assumed were the children of Aphrodite, because they were all beautiful human-or not human specimens and made me want to melt in my place. The prettiest one (and she didn't even have to try), sat at the head of the table, chatting with her siblings. Her kaleidoscope eyes changed from brown, to green, to blue every second. Her feathery hair was choppy, with braids and feathers woven in. her skin was a smooth light brown. Her lips were plump and pink, upturned in a smile. She was breathtaking without even trying. Percy snapped at me, bringing me out of the trance that of the beautiful aphrodite girl.

"Marie," he said waving a hand in front of my face.

"Oh, sorry."

"Just so you know," percy said with a sly smile. "Piper has a boyfriend."

"Oh-I wasn't-" i must have been blushing like crazy because Percy laughed even more.

"Hey, Piper." Percy called. The face of the girl called piper lit up. She got up from her seat and walked towards us.

"Hey, Percy. Who's this?" Her voice was smooth like silk. I wanted to give her all of my money.

"I'm Marie, i'm new here."

Piper shook my hand. "Hey, my name's Piper McLean. Do you know you're godly parent yet?"

"Uh yeah, I'm a child of Poseidon."

Piper looked from me to Percy with a surprised look on her face. "Poseidon? Ahhh ok."

I was uncomfortable for a second, and scraped my foot against the ground.

"Well, welcome to camp! And sibling of percy's is a friend of mine, and I really hope we can be friends." she put her hand on my arm and gave me a look that said i understand the pain you've been through.

Piper went back to her table. Percy led me over to a table that had only two inhabitants. My savior, Nico di Angelo, and a girl with dark skin and a mane of golden blonde hair. The girl was in conversation with Nico. She was young. About maybe fifteen.

When she saw Percy her eyes lit up. She got up and ran over to us, tackling percy in a giant hug. "Percy!" she said as she dove into a hug, making percy stagger backwards. He put his arms around her. "Hey, Hazel!" percy said happily.

"Why didn't you come find me when you came in?" he said to her.

"I did! But first I went to hades cabin and walked in on Nico and Wi-"

"Uh uh uh!" Nico had appeared out of nowhere and put his hands over hazels mouth. "I told her that you were giving Marie the tour."

"I'm not a child, Nico. and neither is Percy!" she pushed his hand off of her mouth

"Hazel, you're 15, sit down."

Hazel punched Nico on the shoulder. "I have slayed monsters, fought off an entire army of warrior women, freed a horse, and helped defeat Gaea! So I will not sit down."

"She's going through one of those teenager phases." nico said.

"I AM NOT GOING THROUGH A PHA- " she paused when she realised that she was making a scene. She took a deep breath. "Sorry about that." she turned her attention to me. "Hi, I'm Hazel Levesque." she smiled brightly and eagerly shook my hand. "I'm a daughter of Pluto, the Roman hades."

"Marie Morales, daughter of Poseidon." her eyes got wide as she I said this.

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"Don't be sorry." Percy said.

"Don't ever apologize for being yourself." Nico said with a knowing look.

"Never, it'll only make you feel worse." hazel said. Bother her and Nico had put their hands on my shoulders. Percy put his hand on my head. I must have looked a little bizarre, standing there with hands all over me.

The people here really did care about me. That was nice for a change.

"C'mon," percy said. "I'll introduce you to Frank." he led me towards a table of mean looking kids.

"Oh wait," hazel called after us. Tell frank 'slurp', he'll know what it means."

If I had a drink in my mouth i would have spit it out everywhere.

"HAZEL NO!" nico shouted.

"What-?" she looked mortified. "Oh! Oh gods I didn't mean it like that, I swear! Me and Frank were gonna make smoothies later with Dakota and Castor!"

Nico did not looked convinced.

Percy and I walked over to the table of mean looking kids. "Hey Frank." percy said.

Frank, was the nicest looking person I'd ever seen. He was asian, tall, muscular, and had short, army style cropped hair and a bow slung over his back. He got up from his table and walked over to us. "Hey, Percy." he said.

"Sup Frank?"

Frank stood up from his seat looking relieved to be away from all the mean looking kids. One girl glared at percy and made a slitting motion across her neck then pointed at him. I wanted to fight this girl, but from the look of her, she could kill me in a second.

"Hey, my name's Frank Zhang. You're Marie right?"

"Yeah, It's a pleasure to meet you." he shook my hand. Though his hands were large, they were oddly soft.

"Hazel told me to tell you 'slurp'. She said you'd know what it meant."

Frank sighed and smiled. "I begged her to use any other codeword for the smoothies." he shook his head and and sat back down.

We turned to leave when the girl who was glaring at percy stood up and walked over to us.

"Jackson!" she yelled. Percy turned around.

"Clarisse," percy said calmly

Clarisse was a big girl. A year or so older than I was. She had choppy brown hair, but it wasn't like Piper's. Clarisse's hair was tangled and greasy, pulled together under a red bandanna. She wore camo pants, a brown tank top, and looked like she could kill me in ten seconds flat. But for some reason that made me want to fight her more. Percy put his hand out in front of me. I realized that I was taking a step forward with my fists clenched.

"Marie no, stay out of trouble. It's your first day and you've already fought two people."

Clarisse chuckled. "Trouble? Ha! Heard you were tough, but you don't look it. So you're fish-brains sister, huh?"

"Yeah, I am Percy's sister."

"How embarrassing for you." she crossed her arms. "Everyone says that Percy is the best fighter at camp, but I could and have easily taken him down."

I stared right into her face. She radiated negative energy. I could feel that she was just waiting for me to punch her.

"You don't scare me, Clarisse. You can look down at me all you want but I refuse to be intimidated by someone who has to put other people down to make herself feel good."

She got a murderous look in her eyes. I could swear I saw angry flames dancing in them.

"You watch it pipsqueak. I've seen things that would make your puny little water brain explode."

I looked right up into her eyes. "Try me."

She smirked. "Just wait until capture the flag. Then we'll see who's scared then."

She sat back down at her table.

Percy led me back to ours and we sat down. My mac and cheese had gotten cold. Percy shook his head smiling.

"What?" I asked

"You should never have challenged her like that."

"But I didn't challenge her! I was-"

"Blinded by rage?" percy finished. "Marie, Clarisse is the daughter of Ares, she literally radiates an energy that makes people angry. And she's not lying, she's one of the best fighters at camp. And you just made her your enemy."

Well Marie, you've done it again you're first day and you've already made an enemy of one of the most powerful people at camp.

"What's capture the flag?"

Percy and Tyson smiled at each other. "It's like regular capture the flag, except it's not like that at all."

"Go on." I said

They explained it to me. It sounded so insane that I wanted to play right away.

"The first game is next week so hopefully we can get in a few hours of training so you're at least ready for what happens."

"I want to start training right away." I said eagerly.

"Well, we need to get you a weapon first, but I promise we'll do that first thing after breakfast tomorrow."

After dinner we all went down to the campfire. The amphitheater was built into the side of the hill with a roaring bonfire that was 10 feet high.

We all sat down as a bunch of kids from the apollo cabin led the sing along. First we sang a strange song called I am my own Great Grandfather and then something about my grandmother's armor. Then, we sang a song about our parents. Our godly parents.

Will Solace started the song by singing about apollo. " oh things couldn't be worse when your parents run the universe. Oh things couldn't be worse, when you're folks run the universe. My dad's apollo, greek god of the sun. when it comes to Haikus, he's less than a one. I've got three pHds, and I want to be done! Oh no. I told him I'm bi, and he said 'that's a mood', and then he continued to eat all my food." he looked around the kids and pointed to to Annabeth.

Annabeth straightened up and began to sing. "My mom's Athena, she's smart and she's wise. She's sworn off gluten and she's sworn off guys. If she came to camp, it'd be a surprise, oh no. oh and when I was eight, I ran away, so I've been at camp, to this very day." she looked around for someone else to sing. She saw a girl with a purple shirt and a white toga on. She looked very regal with her braids. "Go on, Reyna." annabeth said pointing to the girl in purple.

She cleared her throat and sang, "The Roman Bellona, the goddess of war, she frightens grown men straight to the core. She's always and always asking for more, oh no. I murdered my father and my sister's a queen, yet people still ask me why I'm so mean." she pointed to a girl with spiky black hair and punk clothes.

The girl stood up and began to sing. "My father's Zeus, the lord of the sky, too bad he's not that great of a guy. He does who he wants and leaves without 'bye', oh no. My mom was a whore, and now she's no more. But now I'm immortal forevermore." she then pointed at Nico who was hiding in the shadows.

"Thals, you know what happened the last time I sang." people began to chant his name. "Alright, alright. The God of the dead, my father is hades. He's fine with the fact I'm not into ladies. He likes to burn Demeters whole wheaties, oh no. he liked Bianca best, and I felt so worthless, and guess what bitch, I survived tartarus!" people cheered for him when he said that. He then pointed to me with a smug smile. I shook my head but he nodded encouragingly. I took a deep breath and tried my very hardest to stay on-key

"So my dad is Poseidon, god of the sea, just one more thing that he loves more than me. My whole life I've wondered 'oh where could he be!?' oh no. My mother, she hates me, and I'm in pain all day, so I just said 'Fuck it!' and I ran away."

Will Solace picked up the tune again and the rest of the campers joined in too.

"Oh things couldn't be worse when your parents run the universe. Oh things couldn't be worse-but I don't care where our parents may be, as long as you are here with me. We don't care where our parents may be as long as you are here with me. As long as you are here with me!"

The campfire ended and people retreated back up to their cabins. All but leo, that is. He stayed behind an ran off to the forges. I thought nothing of it, but maybe i should have followed him. But I was so exhausted all I wanted to do was sleep. When I got back to the poseidon cabin, I stepped onto the bottom bunk of a bed right next to a window, and pulled myself up onto the top bunk. I buried myself under the ocean patterned sheets and immediately fell asleep. My dream was so haunting I didn't even know how to respond. I was standing on a bridge facing a marvelous city. I walked along the bridge into it, to see what it was. It was glorious. Streets lined with gold, ancient greek temples and a gigantic temple at the top of a hill. I walked inside the temple and saw that it was actually a gigantic throne room. Twelve magnificent thrones were positioned in a circle, each made of something different. Then, a booming sound came. Twelve people came marching into the room. They were about 20 feet tall and looked very bizarre. One man wore a pinstripe suit and had a neatly trimmed salt and pepper beard. The woman at his side was regal and elegant. But also cold, and cruel. Behind them trailed a guy in a hawaiian shirt, bermuda shorts, and a cap that read 'Neptune's lucky fishing' on it. He had kind sea green eyes and several smile lines. He sat down in a throne that was basically an oversized swivel chair with a place for a fishing rod. When the man sat down, a trident appeared at his side. "Dad." I heard myself say. He glanced over to where i was standing, winked at me, then turned his head away.

The other eleven seats filled and I realized where I was. Mount Olympus.

 **A/N: wHoOpS I *accidentally* made Marie a little gay for piper. And, I included some things from the Lightning Theif Musical**


	10. Chaptet 10: The Prophecy

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING EXCEPR FOR MARIE

Leo POV

As soon as the campfire ended, I bolted. I realized that I had left the weapon out in the open. Anyone of my siblings could have picked it up. I raced back down the hill to the Forges where I left it. There was something different about it now. It glowed blue and radiated pure power. I picked it up and felt immense pain surge through my body. "Aaah!" I dropped it and looked at my hand. There was no mark, no indication that I had even touched it. Then, it began to vibrate. It shook violently on the ground and began to hum. "Oh shit ticket I broke it!" I said. Then, the impossible happened. The weapon levitated on its own and glowed a startling blue green. A blinding light flashed and caused me to fall over and get something that scared the living crap out of me: a vision.

I saw a girl with the spear in her hand. I couldn't make out her face, only her hair. She was standing in the water as wind swirled around her. The I realized, she was causing this storm. The beach began to crack open and a darkness spread from it. The girl raised the spear and everything exploded in a white light. I sat up. "Δίνη." I said softly. That word appeared on the handle of the spear.

It glowed even brighter now. It began to move up the hill towards the cabins. I followed it up the hill. It stopped in front of the Poseidon Cabin. Glowing more brightly. "Of course. Insanely powerful weapon that belongs to an insanely powerful girl." Díni dimmed it's glow and planted itself in the ground outside the door. I yawned loudly and decided to turn in for the night. I slept that night, and dreamt that I was on Olympus. All the gods were assembled in their thrones. My dad, Hephaestus, was sitting in a recliner made of gears and stuff. Then, a young goddess approached them. She wore a white chiton and had her blonde hair pulled back in an intricate bun. Her face was extremely youthful. She looked maybe 18.

"Hebe," Zeus said. "It's about time, daughter." Hebe hurried up. "My apologies, father, mother." Hera (the bitch herself) nodded at her. Hebe carried a tray full of goblets and one big-ass goblet of of nectar. She handed each of them a goblet and poured some nectar in it. The gods drank and laughed. "Haha! Remember that time when Hebe tripped and her boobs popped out?" Aphrodite shouted. They all laughed and pointed at Hebe. she laughed, but it was a painful laugh. One that was only used to hide embarrassment.

"As I recall, my treacherous wife," Hephaestus said."it was you who caused her to fall."

Aphrodite put her hands and smiled drunkenly. "Guilty!" she said and everyone laughed. Then Dionysus, pointed from Hera to hephaestus, and was smiling excitedly.

"R-remember when Hera literally yeeted Hephaestus off of Mount Olympus?" they all laughed. "Like she deadass looked at him and said 'this bitch ugly YEET!'" he slapped the arm of his chair and threw his head back with laughter.

"Shut the fuck up, Dionysus, you weren't even there." Hermes said with a smile.

"I know, but Apollo told me right after I became a god." he and Apollo high fived. Apparently the two would go off and watch plays together while drinking wine.

"Oh Oh!" Athena said waving her hand around like Hermione Granger. "Remember when Poseidon lost that contest to me thousands of years ago, so now I'm the patron of Athens?"

"Oh my fucking gods, Athena would you just shut the fuck up about that? Like it happened two thousand years ago!"

"You're still salty about it too."

"What, is Hebe teaching you 21st century terms now? I'm the god of the mother fucking ocean, of course I'm salty."

Both of them stood up from their thrones with their weapons out.

"Ares…" Hera said looking at the god of war, who had flames dancing angrily behind his eyes. "Sorry, mom." he snapped his fingers and Athena and Poseidon realized what had happened.

"You insufferable excuse for a nephew," Poseidon said. "I thought we had agreed that after you helped Luke Castellan steal Zeus' master bolt, that you wouldn't try to start a war between the gods."

Ares stood. "And I also thought that you, corpse breath, and my father would not have children anymore. Yet out of the blue, we get that upstart Jackson and his cyclops brother, and now some green-haired chick from atlantic city." he spat.

Poseidon moved closer to Ares. "you watch your mouth. My sons saved the world twice, and, my daughter has more power than you could ever imagine. An earthshaker, stormaker. Anyone would be a fool to challenge her."

I could only assume that Poseidon meant Marie. She is going to be one strong-ass demigod when she's finished training.

"Am I to assume," zeus said with a scowl on his face. "That you had not one, not two, but three halfblood children while the oath was in effect?"

Poseidon smiled smugly. "Fuck yeah, I did."

I woke from my dream. The entire cabin nine was huddled around me. "Leo, are you okay?" Nyssa asked.

I shook off what had happened last night. "Yeah. of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

They all looked at each other with worried looks. "Well," Jake Mason, the former head counselor stepped up to the front of the crowd. "You kept yelling in your sleep. 'Díni' you kept saying. Or 'it's her! She's too powerful!' I was genuinely scared for you, man." my dreams came flooding back to me. "Oh." I said quietly. I got up, dressed, and led my cabin down for breakfast. The rest of the camp was already there. I spotted Marie, Holding Díni in her hands, admiring it. I didn't know whether or not to be terrified for her. We all sat down to eat, when Rachel Elizabeth Dare froze up, collapsed, and began emitting green smoke from her mouth. Two boys from the hermes cabin picked her up and set her on a three legged stool. Everyone was nervous. Her mouth opened, and what came out of it was a horrible raspy voice.

"The seven and the storm maker shall

Travel again, to the land of roots,

Where all began.

And face the Pit, and the god who has turned

Retrieve the cup, and see it is burned,

The ocean shall burn with a fierce fire,

And two foes shall give in to desire."

Rachel came out of her trance. "Woah." she said. Octavian put his hand on her arm.

"Rach," he said softly. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "What just happened?"

Chiron stood up. "My dear, you have just delivered the next Great Prophecy. When will it begin?"

Rachel looked at Marie with a grim expression. "It has begun." there was a collective gasp around the pavillion. Marie put her weapon down and hid her face, unsure of what to think. Few things were certain. One, Obviously, me and the others could never catch a break. Two, I had just created a possibly apocalyptic weapon. And three, Marie was the Storm maker.


	11. Chapter 11: Scary af weapon and prophecy

I OWN NOTHING BUT MARIE! ALL CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN

Marie's POV

It's safe to say that I did not sleep well that night. After I saw my father on Mount Olympus, I was pulled out of that dream and thrown into another. I was holding a spear in my hands, slashing and stabbing in the darkness, unable to see anything except my own weapon. I was scared, hurt, and seriously injured. I heard an evil laugh, it sent a chill down my spine and made me want to hide away in a hole.

A feeble attempt, halfblood. You cannot win. It said. I could feel it's evilness seeping through my bones. Before this pathetic quest of yours is over, you will have helped me in burning the world down. A world turned upside down.

I stood up, and turned. "NEVER!" I yelled, and slashed the thing that was closest to me.

Ah! You stupid bitch. I new that I had hurt it. But that only made it angrier. Suddenly, I was thrown backwards and hit an invisible wall. I landed with a thud on the dark ground. "Oof!" I said as i got up.

You are powerful, storm maker, you could be a very important ally. If you join me, I could help you free your sister from that house, you could both live happily in my new kingdom.

"NO!" I yelled defiantly.

Very well then, you shall perish, and I will kill your sister in front of you.

I woke up with sweat running down my forehead. I began to cry. Percy got up from his bed. "Marie?" he walked across the room towards me. "What's wrong?" I was afraid to tell him about my terrifying fight with the darkness.

"No-nothing." I said wiping the tears from my eyes. "I just miss Connie." It wasn't a total lie. I did miss her, I was just worried about what that darkness had said.

Percy held my hand and gave me a reassuring smile. "It'll be okay. Get dressed, and we can get you your weapon right after breakfast." He pulled an orange camp t-shirt and a pair of shorts out from the trunk in front of my bunk. I looked at the clothes he had handed me. The shirt seemed a little bit snug, and she shorts looked way to small for what I was comfortable with. I gulped down the awkwardness and thanked Percy for the clothes. I went into the bathroom and changed into them. Looking at myself in the mirror, I almost screamed. These clothes made my curves larger than usual. The cuts on my thigh looked extra noticeable, but they were mostly on the back of my legs, so i tied a sweatshirt around my waist. I walked out of the cabin with Percy and Tyson. I stopped, dead in my tracks. In front of me was something that looked like a swiffer extendable duster thing. Something about it made me worried. Percy beant down to pick it up.

"Percy don't-!" I yelled too late. As soon as he touched the handle he dropped it and yelled. "ARGH!" he led his wrist, horrified. I bent down, having no idea what would happen. I thought back to the dream I had, more specifically to the weapon. Glowing blue and powerful. I picked it up. I glowed for a second, before an inscription appeared on the handle. Δίνη, it said. "Díni." I said with a gasp. "Maelstrom." Percy gasped and Tyson put a hand over his mouth.

"Well, Percy said. "Now you have a weapon."

We walked down to breakfast, admiring Díni. we sat down at the poseidon table and began to eat. The Hephaestus Cabin walked down, led by Leo Valdez. He looked at me. I swear I saw fear in his eyes. Suddenly, a red haired girl named rachel (I assumed she was the oracle) collapsed, and smoke poured out of her mouth. Two boys picked her up and placed her on a three legged stool. The voice that came out of her mouth was horrible, it made my skin crawl and gave me goosebumps. It was raspy and reminded me of sandpaper.

"The seven and the storm maker shall

Travel again, to the land of roots,

Where all began.

And face the Pit, and the god who has turned

Retrieve the cup, and see it is burned,

The ocean shall burn with a fierce fire,

And two foes shall give in to desire."

There was a collective gasp all across the campers. Piper and Jason looked at eachother with fear. Hazel began to cry. Annabeth gulped and held her head up defiantly, with a twinkle of fear behind her calculating grey eyes. Frank clenched his fists and held back tears. Leo's eyes looked everywhere, panicked and afraid. His mouth trembling with fear. Percy put his head down on the table and seemed to relieve some of the most horrible experiences. A scrawny blonde boy rose from the Apollo table and walked over to her. "Rach, are you okay?" she nodded her head "what happened?" she asked, disoriented.

Chiron stood. "My dear, I believe that you just delivered the next Great Prophecy. When will it begin?" Rachel looked grim.

"It has begun."

The entire camp gasped. I hid Maelstrom under the table and put my head in my hands. I didn't know why, but I knew that terrible things were going to happen. Just as they did in my dreams. Tyson put a giant hand on Percy's back, and said. "Maybe things will be different this time?"

Percy sat up, whipping a tear from his eye. "Yeah big guy, maybe." his eyes said something different. They looked at me with so much fear. I knew that my brother had been put through so much. Fighting the titans, losing his memory and ending up all the way across the country, fighting off Gaea and her giants. Now this? He had lost so much, now the gods called on him and his friends again, asking for him to travel back to Greece again and face something probably worse.

After breakfast, Annabeth approached me. She looked at me with calculating eyes, as if trying to determine whether or not I was good or evil. "Marie," she said to me. "I have reason to believe that you are the eighth demigod in this prophecy."

I was stunned. I had no idea how that could happen. I was just a depressed problem kid from the ghetto in Atlantic city.

"I do not like it. I wished for you to have a much happier fate but alas, the lives of demigods rarely ever turn out okay."

"You… you think that I'm the… the Storm maker?" I said shocked.

She nodded. "It could be Percy, but he's already one of the seven, and the prophecy said 'the seven and the sea'." she said. "As far as we know, tyson hasn't shown any signs of storm powers, just regular cyclops powers. You're the only one who has powers like this."

It made sense… but I didn't want it to. I had finally found a safe place for me to be, and now I was to be sent back out into the darkness. I wanted to curl up and cry. Annabeth put a hand on my shoulder and looked at me with her stormy eyes.

"C'mon, Marie, let's get to practicing."

He led me down to the arena with his sword riptide in his hands. The arena was littered with torn up dummies in greek armor. He pulled out the pen and it magically turned into a sword. I had never seen it happen before.

"Now, take out Maelstrom and we can get started."

I took Maelstrom off of my belt. I tossed it aside, still holding the handle. It grew into a small spear, with two dangerous tips on the end. I felt the power surging through my bones. Percy and I faced each other. "Just… do whatever feel right. Okay?" he came at me, holding his deadly weapon in his hand. Without thinking, I moved aside and let the blade get stuck between the prongs. I clicked a button on the side and it shrunk back to it's compact size. I twisted it, and riptide came right out of Percy's hands. He stared at me. I hadn't realized it, but i did that in just three seconds. "Marie…" percy said stunned. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know?"

"Well it was awesome! I'm gonna attack again" he swung his sword quickly.

I barely had enough time to dive out of the way before his sword hit the ground. He slashed at me again but I rolled out of the way. He swung his sword down lightning fast. In a quick motion I moved Maelstrom in front of me, pushing against him with all my might against the power of riptide. Percy's grip tightened around the hilt. My eyes began to scatter. Stupid ADD, great time to get distracted. Somehow, i noticed that percy's foot was turned at an awkward angle. I moved my foot around his ankle and pulled. He lost his balance and came falling down. I stood up and pointed maelstrom's point at his face. Both of us were out of breath. Percy seemed surprised that I could have knocked him off his guard like that.

"Sorry." I said, taking Maelstrom off his neck.

Percy stood up and picked up riptide. "If is was a monster, you never apologize. That is not the Poseidon way. Instead, you say something sassy or intimidating like 'I'd like to point out that you are going down'. Or you know, something like that."

"Oh my gods. Only a bisexual would make a joke that bad."

"Guilty." percy said shrugging his shoulders.

"Wait a minute. Are you-?"

Percy nodded earnestly.

"Wait but- if you're the gay cousin, and I'm the gay cousin, then who's piloting the airplane?"

"I'm not sure, but all I know is that if i ever go up in an airplane, zeus would blast me out of the sky."

"That's rough, buddy."

Suddenly, the beautiful creature known as Piper McLean came running down the hill in a sports bra and shorts, completely soaked. Shit shit shit shit shit! I looked like a sweaty mess, with my unbrushed hair sweat soaked t-shirt.

"Hey Percy, hi Marie."

Percy waved to Piper.

"So, what are we talking about?"

I had no idea what had come over me, it was like I was possessed. Suddenly, I blurted out, "I'm gAY."


	12. Chapter 12: A Game of Lives

I OWN NOTHING BUT MARIE! ALL CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN

~MARIE~

Tonight after dinner was Capture the Flag. I must admit I was hella nervous. Percy told me that I had nothing to worry about, but I knew that some very bad things could happen. I mean, this camp has a whole death wall with actual lava. However, I was getting more and more confident with my fighting skills. I was told that we could make alliances. As far as I knew Percy had made alliances with the Athena, Hermes, Aphrodite, Zeus, Hecate, Apollo, Hypnos, Nemesis, Tyche, and Hades cabins. We were the blue team, and the red team was the Hephaestus, Ares, dionysus, Demeter, Nike, Morpheus, Iris, Janus, Thanatos, Hebe, and Eris. normally, there were a lot of kids fighting, but tonight the Romans were also here. So the number of fighters was greater than usual.

As Annabeth was adjusting my armor, I noticed a grey streak in her hair. "Hey annabeth?" I asked

"Hmm?"

"How come you've got that streak of grey in your hair?"

She tucked the piece behind her ear and looked at Percy, who was going over strategies with Jason and Nico. "a long time ago, when Percy and I were just 14, I had to hold up the sky for a long time. Percy eventually came to take the burden off of me, but it was too much for him so we carried the sky together, and got these grey streaks as a souvenir." she paused, as if she was reliving some horrible memory. "They had faded, but then we got trapped down in Tartarus. All the awfulness of that place, and the stress of trying to get out caused the streaks to return."

She whipped a tear from her eye. "Anyways, let me take a look."

I turned around, letting her look at the armor. "Excellent. Now you are ready for combat."

We gathered in a group, all of us wearing helmets with blue plumes. Annabeth seemed to be the battle strategist, so she took no time in commanding everyone and assigning them to specific details. "Percy, I want you positioned in the water. Jason, i want you to take the skies, look out for any signs of weakness in the other teams defenses. Marie, you're new, so I don't wanna put you somewhere where you can get hurt. So, I want you on the beach as well." she went over the rest of the battle strategy. The flag was hidden in the middle of a clump of trees. Probably not the best idea considering the demeter kids could control plants. But we also had the power of the mist manipulators, children of Hecate, on our side. They could create decoys, even a decoy flag.

Chiron galloped into the center. "And now, let the games begin!" everyone ran to their positions. Jason flew up into the air, Piper disappeared into the woods, Annabeth led a team of Hermes kids into a clearing, percy and I ran out to the beach. Suddenly, a battle cry erupted from one end of the woods. To be honest, it was a little bit frightening. I was standing on the edge of the beach, looking out at the woods. Waiting for something or someone to emerge from them and fight me. I twirled Maelstrom in my hand. Then, I heard a scream. I looked back at Percy who's eyes were wide with fear. "Annabeth!" Percy left the water and ran into the forest, leaving me alone. It was silent, a little bit too silent. I had no idea of the exact location of the flag, and I had no idea why I had to be positioned at the beach. Then, I heard a whistling fly through the air, a cannon ball landed five feet away from me. Panicking, I ran down the beach. I heard yelling behind me, so i picked up the pace. Then, I found it. A red flag waving in the wind. For some reason, no one was around it. So i did the only thing I could think of: grab the flag and take it back to the base. I cautiously made my way towards the red flag. Then, all hades broke loose. I must have stepped on a pressure plate or something because all at once ropes shot up from the ground. I sliced at them until they lied in a mess on the ground. It must have been a distraction, because then an older boy jumped down from a tree, pinning me to the ground. He had sly sort of grin on his face, like he had just won some game that we were playing.

Things only got worse from there. I wish I could come up for a better excuse than 'bad memories', but I couldn't. While I was being pinned down by a smirking boy, a horrible memory pushed itself into my mind. A memory I had done so much to forget, but no matter what, It always came back at the worst moments.

I was back at my old high school as a freshman. I was walking into the girls bathroom alone, there was no one in there. Then, a senior boy came in. I turned around. "Um, excuse me? Boys aren't allowed in here. This is the girls bathroom." The boy got a horrible look on his face. His eyes were narrowed maliciously, his mouth was turned in a crooked grin, and he slowly made his way towards me. I started to get scared. "Did you hear me? You can't be in here." then it got even worse. He pushed me down onto the ground and began to undo his belt. "Wh-what are you doing?" he moved even closer until he was right on top of me. "No!" I yelled. "Stop, please!" i tried pushing him off me, but he was too strong. He pulled my pants off from around my waist. What came next was worse than anything i had ever experienced. It hurt, so bad. He had forced himself into me. I could feel it inside of me, pushing harder and harder. "Why are you doing this?" i sobbed. "Stop it! Please get off me!" the boy merely laughed.

"Oh you sweet, innocent, little tease. I've been watching you all day. You look so damn fine, and I'm easily the coolest person in the senior class. So don't act like you don't want this."

He continued to push himself into me.

"I don't want this! Stop! Please just stop!" to late. It was gone, broken. The tiny little piece of innocence that kept me pure was gone. I felt as if my soul was torn out of my body. I was ruined. When it broke, he stopped. He stood up and re-did his belt. He winked at me and left, leaving me crying on the floor.

When I snapped back to reality, almost no time had passed. The boy was still pinning me to the ground. I panicked, afraid of what would happen next. When I looked at the face of the boy on top of me, I saw the senior who had taken my innocence away from me. This time, i thought, I won't let myself be taken. I tightened my grip on Maelstrom, and thrust upward. It wasn't until i saw his body roll off me, I knew what had happened. He was covered in blood, a giant gash was at the center of his gut. He gasped, and blinked. I stepped back, horrified about what I had just done. "I'm… I'm so sorry." as if stabbing someone wasn't enough, other campers had just entered the clearing. Including Leo Valdez, who had a look of terror and anguish on his face.

~LEO~

You're probably gonna ask why I didn't side with Percy and the others. The answer? I put it to a vote in my cabin, and they voted to side with Ares. anyways, as the fighting raged on, I decided to maker my way to our flag, just to make sure that the traps were still intact. When I got there, what I saw broke me. I saw my half brother, Jake Mason, lying on the ground with a huge gash in his gut, dying. Then my eyes moved to the only other person there. Marie, who was standing over his body, shaking in fear. Her hands covered in blood. I heard a gasp behind me. It was Harley. Her eyes were wide, tears forming in them. Nyssa moved to the front of the crowd and put her hands over Harley's eyes. Then, Nyssa pointed a finger at Marie, tears running down her face. "LOOK WHAT SHE'S DONE! SHE KILLED JAKE MASON FOR NO REASON! SOMEBODY GRAB HER AND BURN HER!"

Chiron galloped into the clearing. "Nyssa, please, we are not going to burn anyone. Now, leo and Marie, would you please accompany me to the big house so we can talk." as we walked, Marie moved next to me. "Leo, I'm-"

"Don't. I don't wanna talk to you unless you can promise me that you did not kill him."

"It was an accident-"

"An accident." I repeated. "You didn't mean to take away the life of my brother and friend?"

"I swear I didn't mean to!" she pleaded. "If you just understood-"

"Understood? I understand. You may have been through some shit Marie, but so has everyone here. You're not special."

She began to cry. "Leo I had no idea that he was your brother, really I didn't know. But he was right on top of me and I panic-"

"What? So now you're making my dead brother out to be a rapist?"

"No! No of course not it's just-"

"It's just WHAT? Marie, what? He pinned you down to the ground after you got the flag? He did that to stop you from winning. It's a game! You're allowed to injure, but not kill. That was explicitly stated in the rules. So what were you thinking when you stabbed my brother in the gut?"

Marie began to cry more. She bit her lip, and stormed off into the big house. I regret saying all those things the way i did. If I had only listened to her side of the story, I would have saved us both a lot of pain.

~MARIE~

When I closed the door of the Big House, I began to sob. I felt awful. My head was pounding, i felt like I was about to throw up, and I was covered in the blood of Leo Valdez's half brother. The way he looked at me… he looked like he wanted to strangle me with his bare hands. Chiron was already inside, pouring a cup of coffee. "Come in, sit down please."

I sat down in a wooden rocking chair. Chiron looked at me with his eyes narrowed. "Did you know his name?"

I shook my head, choking back tears.

"His name was Jake Mason. He was the head councilor for the Hephaestus cabin before Leo. he was a very brave boy, i'm sure he'll get Elysium."

"I just… can't believe that I killed him."

"Tell me what happened, please."

"I got the flag, and then out of nowhere, he appeared. He landed right on top of me, and pinned me to the ground. I thought…" i began to cry again.

"Child, if there is something from your past that had something to do with Jake's death, you need to tell me."

I bit my lip, reluctant to tell Chiron about what happened in the bathroom two years ago.

"Two years ago," I began, figuring that maybe he wouldn't blame me completely for Jake's death. "I went to the bathroom by myself, but an older boy had followed me in. when I told him to leave, he pushed me onto the ground and took of his pants. I told him to stop, I really did. I tried my hardest to push him off of me but I couldn't." I started to cry even more and my voice began to break. "He forced himself into me, and didn't stop until what innocence i had left was gone. He took away the most sacred part of me, and then left me when he was done. I know that this is no excuse, but when Jake had pinned me down, I saw the boy who had taken everything from me. I got scared that the same thing was about to happen again, so i stabbed him. I really didn't mean to kill him, I didn't even know it was happening. I just wanted the pain to stop."

I put my head in my hands and began to sob even more. Chiron put a hand on my shoulder. "You poor child, you have been through so much pain and suffering. Most of the people here can't even imagine what you've been through. Shall we explain this to Leo-"

"No! Please don't tell Leo. I don't want him to think that i'm damaged goods." as if my life wasn't awful enough, Leo had just walked in.


	13. Chapter 13: mental and physical sickness

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING BUT MARIE. ALL CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN

Marie's POV

They say that murder is easy. Maybe it is, but dealing with it isn't. They say that if you're hands don't shake after you murder someone, you're just like every psychopath who kills for no reason. After my chat with Chiron, the memory of murdering Jake Mason never left my mind. Everytime I shut my eyes all I saw was his bloody body rolling off of me. I constantly drank coffee, determined to keep my eyes open. Everywhere I went people stared at me and whispered. I made especially sure to stay away from any of the hephaestus kids. Nyssa had actually tried to kill me yesterday. She appeared out of nowhere, carrying a giant hammer. She jumped out from behind a rock when I was distracted and tried to bash my brains in. Part of me wanted to let her kill me, but Leo, for some reason, had stopped her. I made sure to avoid Harley, the youngest hephaestus kids, at all costs. I rarely left the Cabin. When I did, either Percy, Nico or Tyson walked with me so the other kids didn't try to hurt me. Percy rarely met my eyes anymore, tyson wouldn't laugh with me as often.

I felt as empty and as hollow as the day that boy took everything from me. I had actually thought that things were getting better for me here, but I should have known that good things never last. It was only a matter of time before things would get bad for me again. My hands constantly shook, and no matter how many times I washed them, I still saw Jake's blood on my hands. Nico Di Angelo was the only person who didn't treat me any differently. He took me on walks through the woods, listened to me whenever I needed to talk to him, and held my hair back whenever I needed to throw up. For the first time I had a friend. A best friend. He was there for me, and I would be eternally grateful.

Today when Nico found me, I was crying in the corner of my Cabin. "C'mon." he said. "Let's go for a walk." we left the cabin and started off towards the woods. I heard one Aphrodite boy whisper to an Apollo girl, "makes sense, a murderer and the death boy walking together."

When we got into the woods, the both of us were silent. We walked for a little bit, then Nico broke the silence. "He got a Elysium. Jake did."

"How do you know?" I asked, feeling slightly relieved that Jake Mason had made it into the good place, rather than the bad place.

"I visited the underworld last night. I saw him entering Elysium. I talked to him too."

"You… you did?"

"He doesn't blame you for what happened."

"He doesn't?"

"Not at all. He didn't even mean to- you know." nico gripped my hand. It felt kind of strange, having someone so pale and cold hold your hand. Yet Nico's touch felt sorta nice. It felt like having ice put on a bruise. "And it's not just that. When I saw my father, hades, there was something different about him. He seemed crueler than usual. It wasn't like him at all."

"What's he normally like?"

"Distant, awkward, and gave me a skeleton chauffeur for my 15th birthday."

"Really?" I asked.

Nico looked at me and smiled. "Will and I use him when we go on dates out in the city."

"So you both just roll up to a restaurant in a limo with a skeleton driver?"

Nico laughed. "Most definitely."

I let out a small laugh, almost allowing myself to feel normal again. Then I remembered Jake's bloody body, and I immediately snapped back. "It's getting dark. I should be getting back to the cabin." I said looking down. I wanted to be alone for a little bit, or maybe talk to Connie. I haven't done that since my first day…

"MARIE LOOKOUT!" Nico screamed. A monster appeared out of the trees and snatched Nico up. The monster was huge and ugly. With a disfigured face and large hands. I reached for Maelstrom, but pulled my hand back when I touched the blue handle. I wanted to save nico, I really did. But I wasn't ready yet to use Maelstrom again.

"MARIE HELP ME, PLEASE!" nico was actually in danger. His sword was laying on the ground next to a rock. He was completely- well maybe not completely- helpless. I had to act. As much as I hated it, I took Maelstrom off my belt, swinging it out to full length, and charged the beast. I swung Maelstrom and sliced the monsters arm clean off. Nico fell to the ground and made an oof sound when he hit the ground. The monster wailed, and swung at me with it's other hand. I dodged, then stabbed the monster in it's large neck. It stumbled backwards, then slammed into a tree. It disintegrated into a cloud of dust.

I was out of breath. I immediately dropped to the ground. My vision and sound went blurry. "Marie? Marie?" I heard Nico say. I could barely make out his shadow. Then, my eyes shut, and I blacked out.

While I was out, I had terrible dreams, which I learned was not unusual for Demigods. I appeared on Mount Olympus. The Throne room, to be specific. It was beautiful to behold, but something was different. The gods were there, but they seemed very irritated. They were all slumped in their thrones, glaring at each other. They all had bags under their eyes, and were rubbing their heads like they all had one large migraine. "Hebe!" zeus said at last. "Bring us more nectar!" the goddess Hebe hurried in, carrying a tray of goblets and a pitcher. She poured each of the goblets with a strange look on her face.

"Have you been feeling any better, my lord?"

"No." Zeus grumbled. "I seem to be feeling worse everyday. I hope that this Nectar will make me feel better."

Hebe smiled more, but her eyes were narrowed. "Very well father. Nectar for everyone?"

All of the gods grunted. Hebe gave goblets to everyone, smirking deviously.

"What are you smirking at, stupid girl?" athena grumbled.

Hebe straightened her face out. "My mistake, my lady." Hebe poured some of the nectar into Athena's cup. The wisdom goddess narrowed her eyes and the cup, hesitating to take a sip. I could almost see gears turning in her mind. She turned her gaze to Hebe, who tried her best to keep a straight face. Athena took a cautious sip, then, her eyes widened with a terrible realization. "WAIT DON'T-" too late. A shaking boom shook the whole room. All of the olympians collapsed onto the ground, holding their ears.

"AAUGH!" Aphrodite wailed. "WHAT IS THAT RINGING NOISE?"

"HEBE!" Hera roared. "WHAT DID YOU PUT IN THESE DRINKS?"

Athena let out a horrible scream. "SHE'S BEEN POISONING THE NECTAR THIS WHOLE TIME!"

"HEBE GET BACK HERE!" Zeus tried to summon a lightning bolt, but the light fizzed out before it could reach his hand.

Hebe walked over to Zeus. "Father you are not well." Hebe hoised Zeus onto her shoulders. "Come with me, I will make you well again."

"NO!" Athena screamed. "Don't listen to her! She poisoned the Nectar!"

Hebe looked over at Athena. "Oh Athena, why on Olympus would I do that? My only wish is to help the gods, all of you."

Hebe's words were so sweet. The way she smiled at the other gods, promising them she wanted to help. The gods seemed reluctant to help.

"You all want to get better don't you? If you don't, do you know who will rise in your place? The restless Minor gods. Or worse," she leaned down to Zeus' ear and whispered, "Percy Jackson."

Zeus' eyes went wild, shaking with fear. "Hebe, my dutiful daughter, take me to Olympus. The original Olympus. There is a sacred pool there that will help us."

Hebe nodded, as if she were counting on this. "Yes. we must hurry you all away."

"Some of us must stay behind." Poseidon said at last. "Some of us must stay behind to protect Olympus from any possible threats. Six of us will go to the Greece to heal, and when they are better, they will come back here and the rest of us shall go to heal."

Hebe looked annoyed. "That… seems logical, but would it not be better for you all to heal so that you are back to your full strength to protect Olympus."

Poseidon gripped the side of his throne, straining to stand. "Ah- no. some sick gods are better than no gods. Ah- and besides, you yourself said the minor gods are getting restless again."

"Very well, uncle. But who would volunteer to stay behind?"

"I will." Athena said, struggling to stand. "I will stay behind."

"As will I." Poseidon said.

"And me." Aphrodite rose, trying to stay balanced.

"Me as well." Artemis propped herself up with her bow.

"As shall I." Apollo said. "The gods are all sick, I stay behind cause I'm cool, Artemis is lame."

Artemis tried to lunge at apollo, but fell to the ground.

"I suppose I must stay then." Hera said. "I am, after all, the goddess of -ah- family. I must keep my family safe."

"Very well. I shall take the rest of the gods to Greece to heal." Hebe disappeared with the other six gods.

"We must get to camp. Ah." Poseidon struggled to say. "Inform our children what's wrong."

"Agreed." Athena pushed herself up to her throne. "I do not trust Hebe. she did something to the Nectar, I am sure of it."  
"But what can we do?" Aphrodite said, pulling a pink shawl around herself.

"We must use the seven. As much as Zeus would hate it, we need the demigods.they are our only hope."

"But… what if they refuse?" apollo asked, looking concerned. "The last time a god needed help, they did not want to. We can only put them at risk so many times before they revolt against us."

"My daughter." Poseidon said. Wait, was I hearing that correctly? Poseidon, my father, needed my to help him? I wasn't sure whether to be mad or happy. Never has he shown himself to me, and now he wants me to help him? But I hated seeing him like this. He was still my father, and I wanted to help him get better."

"My daughter will help bring the seven together again. She has more power than she knows. We must go to our children at camp, inform them of what is to be done."

My father was coming to camp. I was finally going to meet him. Suddenly, I was pulled out of my dream. I woke up in the infirmary. My vision was slightly blurry, but I could see a boy sitting in a rocking chair next to my bed. I blinked a few times, and saw Leo Valdez.

"L-Leo?" I said groggily.

"Oh good, you're up." he got up from the rocking chair and sat on the edge of my bed.

"What're you doing here?" I asked.

"I honestly don't know. I saw Nico running in here with you in his arms and, I don't know. I was worried I guess."

I suppressed a smile. "You were worried about me?"

Leo almost said something, like it was on the tip of his tongue. "I-never mind." he got up to leave.

"Wait Leo." I said, pushing myself up. He stopped in the doorway. "I know that I'm the last person you wanna see right now but, could you maybe stay with me for a little bit? There's something I have to tell you."

His expression softened, then turned to confusion.

I told him all about my dream. He looked at me with anxious eyes.

"Gods." he said softly. "My father he's-. Has this ever happened before?"

"I don't think so. But Leo there's something else."

"What else could there be?"

"The gods who stayed behind, they're coming to camp." just then we heard a loud boom outside.


	14. Chapter 14: a godly ‘request’

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING BUT MARIE. ALL CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN

Leo's POV

I grabbed Marie around the waist, and helped her walk out of the infirmary. All the other campers were gathered around six large figures. Marie gasped at the sight of a man with a hawaiian shirt, bermuda shorts, a hat, and smile lines. The man looked at her and smiled. "Hello, my daughter."

"F-father?" Marie gasped. "You… you're actually here! And I'm not dreaming!"

"DAD!" Percy and Tyson came running up the hill with large smiles on their faces. Poseidon opened his arms and let his children run into him. Percy's arm reached out and grabbed Marie's hand, pulling her into the hug. Her eyes looked nervous for a minute, then she closed her eyes and embraced her father and brothers.

"Ahem." Hera interrupted. "When this touching moment is over…"

"Puta." I mumbled under my breath.

Her eyes flashed a dangers look. "What did you say to me?"

"I said 'Hera'." I added quickly to avoid being turned to dust. I heard Marie snicker. I just remembered that she could speak spanish. Wow she was pretty when she spoke spanish.

Hera glared at me. "Leo Valdez. You're alive are you? Pity."

"He died to save the world." Marie said. Everyone looked at her. "That is to say he died in a giant thing of fire to take down an evil earth goddess. Then he came back and helped Apollo."

I hadn't expected Marie to defend me like that. I assumed that she was still mad at me for all those awful things I said to her.

Hera moved closer to Marie. "Marie Morales." she said cruelly. "I don't recall you being this brave when you still lived at home.You would almost never dare to speak in such a manner to your mother, but a Goddess! You should consider yourself lucky to be alive."

Marie looked like she was on the verge of tears. "That place is not my home. And as for my mother, she couldn't care less if I was dead."

Hera's smile twisted even more evilly. "But she wasn't always like that was she? She was good before."

Hera had hit a sore spot. Marie slowly turned toward Poseidon, who's face showed a very small indication of guilt.

"She's right. My mom was good before. Before you left. Why did you leave? Do you have any idea what she's done to me? How fucked up in the head I am because after you left she lost it?" Marie was sobbing now. Hera had won. She had broken Marie down just as she was starting to get almost halfway okay.

"Marie," Poseidon said, putting a hand on his daughters shoulder. "Gods are not allowed to interfere in the lives of mortals. Especially their children. I am no exception to that rule, but I have been keeping watch over you Marie. I have visited you numerous times as a child, but my brother has punished me for doing so. But your brother's understand that I can't always be physically present, but I will always be there to help you. You are my only daughter, always remember that."

Marie cried some more. Hera rolled her eyes.

Annabeth Chase pushed to the center of the crowd. "Mom." she said to Athena. "What are you doing here?"

Athena turned towards her daughter and smiled slightly. "We are sick. All of us olympians. I suspect Hebe has something to do with this. But the other six have gone to the Original Olympus in Greece where the Sacred Pool is located. Zeus believes that it will heal us, but I think otherwise. This has never happened before, and I fear things can only get worse."

Apollo stepped forward. "We need the Sev-" he began to say before he was cut off by Percy.

"Nope. not you."

Apollo turned towards the son of Poseidon. "You dare refuse a God?" he seemed to grow in size, seeming more fearsome.

But Percy kept his cool. He narrowed his eyes casually at the God, and said something that should have gotten him killed. "Listen, Lester, I've helped you enough."

"Percy," Poseidon said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "We will die if you do not help us."

"Fine. but I'm only doing it for you."

Poseidon turned towards his daughter. "Marie, my only daughter, it pains me greatly to do this, but this quest needs you. It will fail, horribly without you."

All eyes turned towards Marie. "No pressure there. But Poseidon, I am not ready. I'm too unpredictable, and I can't properly fight…"

"Your inability to control your powers will come in handy at some point. As for your ability with fighting, I'm sure your brother can help you with that. but it is vital that you go on this quest." Marie looked like she was about to throw up. Instead, she nodded her head.

The gods forms shimmered, then disappeared. Everyone stood, looking at us and Marie. Hazel hid her face in Frank's large shoulders, Piper took Jason's hand and they both began to cry, Percy and Annabeth hugged each other in silence. I had no one to turn to. Except Marie, for some reason she popped into my mind. But before I could reach out to her, she turned around and ran, soon becoming nothing more than a blue-green dot in the distance.


	15. Chapter 15: the calm

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING ALL CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN!

(Marie's POV)

Did that really just happen? Did my father really just tell me that my friends would die if I didn't go on this quest? I panicked as I ran. The elements began to blur around me. Somehow, I found myself back at my cabin. I ran into the low building and dove up onto my bed, covering myself with blankets. I prayed that I would find myself in the infirmary, just waking up from when I passed out in the woods. But no such luck. I just lied in fetal position under all my blankets with my eyes shut tightly. Everything swirled around in my head like one big storm. I was so confused and scared, I didn't know what was going to happen. Everything could go wrong on this quest, I was so inexperienced.

I heard the door creak open. "Marie?" it was Percy.

As per usual, I did the stupidest thing in the world. "Marie's not hear right now, leave a message after the beep. bEeP."

Percy climbed up onto my bed. "Marie, I know you're scared-"

I sat up, with my blanket over my head, looking like some poor peasant lady trying to revolt against my French overlords. "Scared? Percy I am fucking terrified!"

He looked at me with knowing eyes. "You're telling me. I was twelve when I had to travel to the underworld. I was really only at camp for a couple weeks before I had to go off. It was scary." he took a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me.

I unfolded the paper and realized it was a photograph. It was a picture of three kids. One, a satyr who looked scared out of his rasta cap. Another, a blonde girl with grey eyes and a New York Yankees hat. And the third, a boy with messy black hair and eyes like mine. "Is that…"

Percy nodded. "That's me, Annabeth, and our friend Grover before our first quest. Haha. we were so young back then. See? Annabeth and I don't even have our grey streaks yet."

"What happened to the third one? Grover. How come I never see him here?"

Percy looked pained. "He-he… he passed away a few months ago. But he wasn't killed or anything. It was just as he would have wanted it. It was peaceful, and simple. He knew it was his time." Percy let a small, amused smile creep across his face. "'I'm gonna be with Pan, now. I'm gonna get to see my dad and uncle ferdinand!' he was so excited for someone who was about to die. He just closed his eyes, and he disappeared. Next thing we knew, a gigantic oak tree had sprouted out of nowhere." a tear slipped down Percy's face. He shut his eyes tightly, and let the memory of his friend wash over him. "It was beautiful." he leaned his head on my shoulder, crying softly. After a minute or two, he sat back up and whipped away his tears. "Oh yeah. The reason why I'm here." he hopped off my bunk and moved to a back wall. He pressed against the wall and it swung open like a door. Percy stepped inside and dug around.

"May I assume you know how to surf?"

That was a ridiculous question. I grew up literally two blocks from the beach. "Of course. I spent 90% of my free time at the beach. You think I sat there on the sand and cried the whole time?"

"Oh good." Percy emerged with two wetsuits and two of the most beautiful longboards I had ever seen. One was green and the other was blue. Both had a black trident on the nose.

"Percy they're-"

"The most beautiful boards you've ever seen? There's more inside."

"Where did that storage closet come from?"

"Each cabin has their own special thing. Ours is an infinity closet filled with everything a child of poseidon could need."

"Infinity closet? What's that?"

"It's a closet, but I have no idea where it ends. Like I've been in there for an hour once, just walking forward." he tossed me a wetsuit. "Get changed and grab a board. We're going surfing."

I quickly changed into the wetsuit. It looked small when I held it in my hands, but it fit perfectly when I put it on. It was like wearing a second skin. I grabbed the green board and walked into the closet, looking for some wax. When I got it, I left the cabin with Percy and we walked down to the beach.

As we got closer, I could hear the waves crashing on the warm sand. When we got there, the waves were beautiful. They were the perfect size for two kids who grew up on the east coast. Of course, I did like a little bit of a challenge when it came to waves. Percy stepped up next to me and put a hand on my shoulder, looking out at the sun glistening off the waves. A truly beautiful sight. "C'mon." percy said. "Last one to the water is a gorgon!" he sped off towards the water. I ran after him as fast as I could. As soon as I stepped foot in the water, I immediately felt a surge of… wonderfulness run through me. Considering it was mid June in New York, the water wasn't cold, it was the perfect temperature. Suddenly I didn't feel the crushing weight of depression and anxiety pushing down on my shoulders. All that was lifted away.

I ran out until I was about waist-deep in the beautiful blue-green water, and pushed myself up onto the board. I paddled out further to where Percy was. We sat for a little bit, just waiting for the perfect wave. Then, there it was. I waited for Percy to turn and paddle, but he didn't. So I did the only thing I could think of: I took it. Then something that had only happened two other times in my life happened. I barrelled. It was glorious, with the bright sun glinting off the beautiful tunnel of blue-green as I sped through. It felt wonderful. Everything else melted away for this one perfect moment. Jake's death? The rape in the bathroom? The constant beatings I got at my mother's house? All of them crashed away behind me. When I got spit out of the barrell, I saw Percy with his hands in the air, cheering me on.

When I paddled back out, I asked him why he didn't take the wave.

"Because you needed it. Being handed a quest directly by dad is a big thing. Especially if it's your first quest. Plus, you've been through a lot these last few days. I figured you might need a good barrel to help you feel better."

"Thanks Percy."

For the next hour and a half, all we did was surf amazing waves. It felt so good to be out in the ocean, taking in the sun's rays. It felt like the first time I had gone surfing.

I had come home from school to find my mother, black out drunk, waving a bat around the house, threatening Connie, after asking about who her father was. It was a nightmare. I tried to grab the bat out of her hands, but that only made things worse. My mother then proceeded to yell at me for all the things I had done. When she was done verbally and physically abusing me, I left the house. When I got to the beach I was so angry and reckless that I stole a board from a nearby stand. When I went out, the water was flat, then out of nowhere, this beautiful four foot wave appears. Having never surfed before, and feeling very reckless and "fuck it, i don't have much to live for anyways", I took the wave. When i felt the lift, I popped up, and had the most wonderful experience of my life. It was the first time I had barreled, and i felt so in tune with everything. When I paddled back in, I saw the owner of the surf stand looking at me with a stern expression. When I told him I had never surfed before, he was so impressed with my skills on the waves that he wasn't even angry about the fact that I stole one of his boards. The man seemed to recognize that there was something wrong with me.

"Anytime you need to blow off steam, just come here and you can borrow a board."

Thinking about it now, the man seemed familiar. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

As the sun was going down, Percy and I sat on our boards out in the water and just talked. He told me about his little sister Estelle, and about his mom had once turned her ex to stone using Medusa's head.

"Your mom sounds amazing." I said. "My mom would never do anything like that." before I could get too depressed again, I dived off my board into the perfect water. It felt nice down there. The fact that I could breath made it even better. I sat on the ocean floor for a while, just thinking about everything. After a little bit, Percy floated down. It was completely dark now, but we could see perfectly. It was another hour before we realized that we had missed dinner.

Nothing mattered to me right now. Sitting on the ocean floor made me feel so calm and happy. Percy was right, i did need this. I wanted to come back here everyday for the rest of my life, however short that may be. Percy checked the water-proof watch on his wrist.

"Of fuck." he said suddenly. "Marie we gotta go."

Still in a state of euphoria, high off the amazing feeling of happiness that the ocean gave me, I sounded like such a stoner. "Why? Can't we just chill here at the bottom of the ocean forever, dude?"

Percy looked at me like I was on crack. "No, dude. It's midnight. And you need sleep. We have to leave in a few days, I want you well rested and awake for this quest."

"Percy, man! Come on. This is the best I've felt in years. The ocean makes me feel nice and normal and happy. You do want me to feel like a normal person don't you? You don't want me in constant pain?"

"Marie, I know how great it is to be in the ocean, I stayed in the ocean for two whole days after the thing with the giants. But you can't let this constant high control you. Sooner or later you're gonna have to get out of the water and help us. The world is depending on you, Marie. We need you."

I snapped back to reality. "You… your right." I pushed off the floor and resurfaced. I paddled into the beach. As soon as I stepped out of the water and onto the sand, I immediately felt everything fall back onto my shoulders. I started to cry. The weight of everything was pushing me almost to the edge. I broke down, sobbing. Percy wrapped a blanket around me and I cried. He carried me back to the cabin and put me on my bunk. I barely slept that night, I tried so hard to cling to the wonderful memory of surfing with Percy, and tried not to focus on the fact that according to my father, my friends would die without me.


	16. Chapter 16: A chat with my Sister

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING ALL CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN

(Marie's POV)

After the amazing day of surfing, things began to weigh down. We were meant to leave tomorrow morning, and my dreams weren't exactly the kind of dreams you'd want before going off on a suicide mission. I was back in that dark place with maelstrom in my hand. I was swinging it wildly, trying to fight off whatever was attacking me. You cannot win, foolish girl.

I swung again, trying still to kill it. Though how you kill a voice i had no idea.

You will fail, your friends will perish, your sister will burn, and your precious lover will burn in his own flames.

I already knew that my friends would perish, but why did he refer to leo as my 'precious lover'? Wait why did I think of Leo? I was shaken awake by Percy. It was still dark out, and I couldn't see very well.

"Percy? Wuzzgoinon?" I scratched my head. "It's not time to go yet is it"

"Nah, we've still got a couple hours. I thought that you might want to talk to your sister. You know, before we travel to Greece for an almost certain death."

"Yeah, you're right. She's probably up now anyways."

I pulled on an orange sweatshirt and climbed down the bunk. I fished a Golden Drachma out of the fountain and tossed it on a rainbow on the wall. "O goddess, accept my offering. Show me Connie Morales in Atlantic city." the image shimmered and I saw my sister sitting on her bed with a book in her hands. I waited for her to notice me sitting there. Part of me wanted to speak, but the other half just wanted to sit and watch her. Her short brown hair was pulled back into pigtails. "You know reading in lighting as poor as that is bad for your eyes. You don't wanna have glasses do you?"

Connie jumped, startled at my voice. "M-MARIE! You're here, again, in the middle of the night. This is strange even for you."

I smiled at her skepticism. "Oh it only gets stranger, I can promise you that."

Connie squinted her eyes at me. "'Camp Halfblood'. Is that where you are? Is that some sort of rehabilitation place or something?"

"No. it's a place for kids like me. A place for kids with ADD, Dyslexia, and serious issues. Also, there's another part of the story." I told her the whole thing (leaving out the part that I had murdered someone). She looked like she was about to ask a question, but she restrained herself. When I finished, she closed her book.

"So, you're the child of a god- a greek god, and you're at a place for other children of gods. And Percy is your half brother on your father's side?"

"Yeah. crazy right?"

"Crazy, but not unbelievable. Your story makes sense, but i still don't understand one thing."

"What's that?"

"When are you coming back to me? Mom has been in such a terrible state, she's slowly going insane. Like crazy insane. I'm scared, Marie. I'm terrified to be in the same house with her."

"Con, I don't… I don't think I'm gonna be back for a while. See, percy and some of our friends are going on a trip today. We're gonna be gone for a long time, it's likely that I won't make it back."

Connie flinched. "Won't make it back?" she tried to process those words. "wha-that-n-NO! I won't let you go on this trip. I FORBID you from doing so! You-you can't leave me with her! Please, once you're gone I'll be left alone with her. I can't do it, I just can't anymore! No puedes dejarme sola aquí. Las cosas han empeorado mucho desde que te fuiste. Está enojada y borracha todo el tiempo. Por favor, no vayas en este viaje. Te necesito. tu familia te necesita!"

"Connie, please calm down. There's still a chance that I could come back. And if-when I do, the first thing I'll do is come and get you. I'll make special arrangements at camp so that you can stay here too. I promise. Nunca te dejaré sola. Tu eres mi familia. te amo connie Volveré por ti, lo juro."

She relaxed a little bit. "I suppose you don't have a choice but to go huh? Just promise me you'll be safe."

I smiled at her. Despite her being significantly younger than me, she's been more of a mom to me than my own mother. "I'll try."

"okay. You should probably get going then. Just come back to me."

"Goodbye."


	17. ch 17: my odyssey begins

I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT MARIE! ALL CREDT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN

Marie's POV

After the chat with my sister, I wasn't sure if I felt more depressed, or a little bit better after seeing her face. I packed up my only few belongings. A few shirts and shorts, water, a blanket from the cabin (it smelled like salt water, which now smelled like home), and a surfboard. I discovered that if you press the mini trident on the nose, the board will shrink into a trident pendant that I was able to wear as a necklace. I walked out of the cabin and saw the Seven outside their own cabins with looks of sadness on their faces. The rest of the camp was still asleep, so we thought it would be better if we left now.

We all walked down to the dock, where a massive warship was docked. I heard Leo sigh and say "remember the first time we sailed on this ship? We were so young back then."

Jason laughed. "Yeah. we actually thought we could change the world."

"I still can't believe how naive we were." Piper said uncomfortably. "Just a couple of kids on a boat, trying to save the world from our evil great grandmother."

Hazel smiled. "Just seven kids in love-" she stopped when she saw leo's face. "Oh… Leo I'm-"

He quickly changed his expression to hide the pain. "Nah! Don't worry about me. Even though there's an even number, i'll still end up alone. You'll see."

The others looked at me and Leo with smug faces. I walked onto the ship and looked around. I knew this would happen. I was outcasted already. I knew that I wouldn't fit in with the rest of them. They had this history that I just couldn't be apart of. I found my quarters. It was the perfect temperature for me, with waves painted on the walls. A speaker was placed inside the left wall, playing the sounds of waves crashing and seagulls squawking. I sat on my bed and layed down. This seemed like a bit of a pattern. I left an abusive home and came to Camp Halfblood. I thought I had a home, but then I accidentally murdered one of their favorite people and I was outcasted. Now I was on this boat for who knows how long, it's only a matter of time before something happens and I'm outcasted again.

The thought of all these things made me cry. I was so fucking tired of being alone all the time. For once I just want to be surrounded by people who love me. I heard a knock on my door. "Marie?" It was frank's voice. "Are you okay in there?"

I sniffled and wiped the tears from my face. "Y-yeah. *sniff* I'm okay."

The door creaked open and Frank walked in. I turned my head to the side so he didn't see me in such a pathetic state. He sat down next to me and hesitantly put his hand on my shoulder.

I don't know what came over me, but I just broke down even more. I started sobbing uncontrollably into my hands.

"Marie?! What's wrong?"

I told him about everything. I told him about my life before camp, how I constantly felt alone no matter where I was, and that it was only a matter of time before I did something that made me an outcast again.

Frank pulled me into a giant panda-bear hug. "That's not gonna happen. Trust me. Do you know what Leo did when him, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason came to new Rome? He blew the place up. He didn't mean to of course, he was possessed by some horrible monster, but he felt awful for the longest time." he patted my curly, unbrushed mess I called hair. "So it's gonna be okay."

I sniffled. "Yeah I guess. But Leo also didn't kill anyone."

Frank paused for a moment. "Actually- no. I probably shouldn't… just don't tell him I told you."

He sat up straight and looked at me with pitiful eyes. "You know how Leo has the Hephaestus power of fire?"

I nodded, wondering what this huge secret was.

"Well, when he was little-well,littler, he and his mom were leaving this mechanics garage. His mom forgot something and went back to get it. The doors locked, and the evil earth goddess Gaea, appeared to him. She taunted him to the point where he threw a giant ball of fire at her." Frank's eyes saddened. "But at the last second Gaea disappeared, and the fire hit the garage, burning the whole thing. His mom…"

"She didn't make it out, did she?"

Frank shook his head. "I shouldn't have told you that."

"No." I suddenly got defensive. "But you felt sorry for me didn't you? 'Oh PoOr MaRiE!' Well I don't needpity." I spat the word out like a sour lime. I stood up and stormed out of the room, leaving Frank bewildered, wondering what he had done wrong. I ran out to the deck and collapsed over the rail. We were speeding over the water almost as if this thing could fly. I sobbed quietly.Oh well done, Marie. Good fucking job. Some nice kid tried to make you feel better and you yelled at him.I thought to myself "what is wrong with me?" I said quietly. I looked out over the water, tempted to jump over the side and just surf, using the water to propel myself to keep up with the ship.

I swung my leg over the side of the rail, about to jump in, when I heard a small voice call my name. "Marie?" I turned around and saw Hazel Levesque standing a few feet away from me. Her long golden hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. She had sad eyes, like she knew what I was going to do.

"Hey Hazel." I tried to act casual, with my tear-stained face, one leg over the edge of the ship, and known depression.

She smiled kindly at me as she moved forward slowly. "Why don't you step away from the edge of the boat and sit down?"

"Hazel I'm not gonna try to kill myself." I said.

She put a hand on her chest and sighed. "Whew!"

"At least not today…" I swung my leg back onto the ship and slumped down.

She moved next to me. "Everything okay?"

I gave a short laugh. "Oh yeah. Everything is totally fine."

She narrowed her golden eyes at me. "There's no need for that kind of tone. I know that you want to kill yourself, Marie Morales, and I feel it is my solemn duty as your friend and child of Pluto to tell you that dying will not make things better. Trust me. I'vebeen deadbefore. It ain't all that glamorous. At least not in the fields of Asphodel."

I had forgotten that Hazel had died over seventy years ago. "Yeah I guess you're right." my face suddenly felt hot with embarrassment. I felt really guilty for the way I shouted at Frank. "I'm sorry I yelled at Frank."

She looked at me with shock. "You yelled at Frank?"

I retreated a little bit with shame. "You didn't hear?"

Her face turned to pity. "No, I heard. We all heard. It was very loud."

My face turned an even brighter red. "Lovely."

Hazel stood up and held her hand out to me. "C'mon. Leo's got breakfast ready."

Surprisingly, Leo knew exactly what I wanted for breakfast. Waffles, bacon, and whipped cream, just like Connie used to make for me. Normally I ate and left before she woke up. Which meant that I'd have to eat a breakfast bar I hid in my room. But sometimes, the morning after a really bad beating, Connie would wake up earlier and make me my favorite breakfast.

The rest of the team sat around the table eating their favorite breakfasts. Annabeth ate Owl O's cereal, Jason ate breakfast sausage and chocolate milk, Hazel had beignets with vanilla sauce, Frank ate a breakfast burrito, Leo had toast with jam, Percy ate blue pancakes (i don't understand why) drowned in syrup, and Piper ate scrambled eggs.

"So," Jason said with a mouthful of sausage. "What's the plan for when we get to Greece? Last time there were all these stops and stuff."

"Yeah, but also last time there was that whole Mark of Athena thing." Leo said. "This time, all we have to do is go to Greece and burn some cup. Sounds pretty easy to me."

Percy started coughing like a madman. Then, his horrid coughing turned into laughter. "'Easy' he said. When have the gods ever made anything easy for us?"

"That's a very valid point." Piper said. "Plus, we don't even know where this cup is?"

"Rachel said it was at this sacred pool on mount Olympus." Hazel said. "So I guess we go to the original mount Olympus, find this pool, and the cup and we're good."

"Yeah but didn't we get attacked by several monsters and almost died a bunch of times?" Jason said with one blonde eyebrow raised. "Also, don't we have to find some god that turned?"

"I remember Athena saying something about how she suspected Hebe of poisoning them," Annabeth said, putting down her spoon.her face changed from suspicion to disbelieve. "But I've met Hebe, when I was rebuilding Olympus, she brought me nectar and ambrosia if I overworked myself too much. She was really nice and fun to hang out with-" Annabeth had started blushing and smiling at the memory of her friend.

"When you're done gushing over Hebe," Percy interrupted, clearly jealous of how Annabeth was talking about Hebe.

"Sorry," she said, the red draining from her face. "But I know that Hebe wouldn't do this. Zeus and Hera are her parents. She fought alongside the gods in the past two wars. She wouldn't do anything to endanger the gods."

There was silence in the whole room. Everyone looked around each other, shocked that Annabeth would disagree with her mom like that. I haven't known annabeth for a long time, but she has a very rational mind. Personally, I would not have hesitated to frame Hebe.

"Well," I said, finally attempting to make my voice heard. Everyone's head turned towards my direction. "Maybe your mom has a point, Annabeth." Annabeth looked slightly offended, then recomposed herself. "From what I remember from the myths, Hebe was the Cupbearer to the gods, if she found a way to alter the nectar so that it's harmful to the gods…"

Everyone seemed to consider this. Piper fiddled with her knife, Jason did that thing where you make a finger gun and hold it up to your chin, and Percy scratched his head in confusion, and Annabeth looked around the room, looking for someone to agree with her.

Leo snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! Marie, remember that dream you told me about in the infirmary?"

It all came filling back into my head. The sneaky look Hebe had on her face, the fact that with every sip the gods seemed to be getting worse. I wanted to forget that dream, to continue to eat my breakfast in peace. But i needed to help my friends.

I told them about my dream. Each of their faces twisted with a mix of confusion and worry for their parents.

When I finished, even Annabeth didn't disagree with what I had said.

"Wait why was Leo in the infirmary with Marie?" Frank said with his mouth full of burrito.

I felt my face go red. Both Leo and I avoided eye contact with each other, feeling so awkward. Part of me wondered if there was a reason he was embarrassed and flustered too. Maybe that's what happens when you have great friends, they just tease you about a girl they think you'd be cute with. I've never had friends before, so I had no idea. Sitting there at that table, I wondered how differently things would have gone if Ihadn'tpunched him in the stomach or killed his brother. I saw us sitting together at the campfire, singing a song about our grandmother's armor, training together, then crying together when the prophecy came around.

Then I began to wonder what it would have been like if there was no prophecy, if we were just two demigod kids at camp. I almost smiled at the thought. The thought of us swimming in the ocean, roasting marshmallows at the campfire, having picnics on the beach, sneaking out at night to look at the stars, then him slowly leaning in…

I mentally slapped myself.Hold up, get your bitch ass head out of the clouds, Marie. He hates you. Remember the way he looked at you that day? Remember the sting in his voice? Remember when he broke down and sobbed over his dead brother's body? Yeah, that was your fault.Stupid bitch ass anxiety, always making me feel like shit when I have nice thoughts. But deep down i knew that my anxiety was right. He does hate me. I don't blame him, to be honest. I hate myself.


	18. Ch18: Catching Feels and Killing Sirens

I OWN NOTHING BUT MARIE! ALL CREDITGOES TO RICK RIORDAN

(Leo's POV)

How dare she? The sheer audacity! My pure virgin eyes! I am distracted from my school work! After I ate breakfast, I decided to walk around the deck. Try to clear my head a little bit. Then, I saw her. My innocent virgin eyes were exposed to a female's body. I stepped out on to the deck and saw Marie Morales, tall and beautiful, peel her orange camp t-shirt off of her body. I had no idea why she was doing this, and I honest to god's tried my very hardest not to stare at her chesticles, but like, ah. Then she struggled to take off her shorts. She had a bathing suit on, of course, a blue bikini that should have clashed horribly with her hair, but it didn't. She looked beautiful

*¡Oh mis dioses! santa mierda santa mierda! Marie es thicccc. ¡Esto no es bueno en absoluto! ¿Cómo se supone que debo estar resentida con ella si ella se ve así? Uy, saca tu cabeza del canalón Leo y vuelve a la tarea que tienes por delante. pero tiene que verse tan hermosa? Calypso ni siquiera podía compararse con Marie. Oh, vaya, será tan difícil concentrarse en llevarnos a Grecia de forma segura.

Contain yourself, Leo. do not make a sound. Hold it in. I almost screamed at what she did next. She turned around, facing away from me, and bent back into a bridge. You know that thing that happens when a girl who's, shall I say, top heavy, bends backward? Yeah, well now I know what happens. She didn't seem to notice me at first, so I was terrified to even take a step.

then, it happened. "Leo!?" she yelled. Her upside down face was a mixture of fear, anger, and shock. So naturally, I did the only thing I could think of: I jumped off the fucking boat. Probably not the best idea considering Marie's element was water. When I sunk into the cold water, it finally hit me. I. CAN'T. FUCKING. SWIM! I was thrashing, trying my hardest to make my way to the surface. But the movement of the boat was not helping. It kept creating waves and currents that were pushing me further back. I felt the give up. This was my fault, no one else's. If I hadn't gotten distracted by Marie's gorgeous body if I hadn't been a weird perv... ugh. Welp, this is my life now. The ship was far ahead of me by now, Marie is probably telling the others about how I was spying on her while she was practically naked and I will fade away into memory as the greatest mechanic that ever lived. I could slowly feel myself slip away from existence. Then, from far above me, I heard a crash. Slowly a figure started to take form, moving in closer at a fast speed. The last glimpse I caught before my eyesight gave out completely, was a figure with beautiful skin, and blue hair.

When I regained my sight, I almost jumped out of my body. Marie Morales was leaning over my drenched body, smiling at me with her brilliant smile and kind, playful eyes. When I looked at her, her hair wasn't wet. There was no sign that she had even set foot in the water. Then I noticed that she wasn't even wearing her bathing suit. She was wearing a pristine white chiton drooping off her shoulders, with gold braided into her hair, which was blowing softly in the ocean breeze. She was so beautiful, so glorious, I felt as if I had been touched by the sun itself. I tried to speak, but I felt as if my very voice had been squeezed out of my body.

"Are you okay, Leo?" her voice was smooth like silk. "That was a pretty hard fall into the water. I was scared for you." she put her hand on my chest, still smiling at me.

I almost choked. "Y-yeah. I'm totally okay. There's nothing I can't handle."

She gave a cute sort of giggle. "Oh good."

"So," I looked around me and saw nothing but ocean and sky. "Where are we, exactly?"

She didn't answer. She just kept on smiling at me.

I should have noticed that something was off, because one, she was wearing a completely different outfit than she was when I jumped off the ship, and two, this was not my- I mean the Marie I knew. The Marie that was in front of me did not have the same brokenness behind her eyes, she had a new kind of confidence. It seemed kind of... dangerous, like she could stab me and tell me she loved me. I had to keep a rational mind. I needed to put aside the fact that I found Marie extremely attractive right now, and figure out a way to get back to the ship, wherever that was.

"Hey, Marie? Can you do something for me?"

"I can do anything you want me to." she smiled seductively and winked at me.

DOWN! DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, STAY THE FUCK DOWN!

"Can you tell me what happened the first time we met?"

She giggled. "Of course. We flirted, in Spanish. Gods you were so cute, I wanted to kiss you so bad."

Part of me wondered if that was true. But I had to get off this dam rock. I stood up and brushed the dirt off of me.

"Yeah. except, you forgot one crucial detail: you punched me in the gut." in a quick movement, I shot white-hot flames out of my hands, straight at the siren who was pretending to be Marie. Hearing the siren scream in the same exact voice that Marie had, literally made me want to throw up. Seeing her tormented face cry... it broke me.

"Please, Leo! Stop! Please, I'm dying! The fire-it's killing me. Leo please!"

I shouldn't have listened. I should have kept shooting fire at that siren until it was nothing more than a pile of ash. But I couldn't. The siren looked so much like Marie, sounded so much like her.

The siren looked at me with the beautiful green eyes of Marie Morales, gasping for breath.

"Leo... *gasp, I never intended to hurt you. Please, don't hurt me anymore. We can be together, forever. Just the two of us." the siren stood up and placed her hands on the side of my face.

"Just us...?" I said softly. The siren pulled me closer and kissed me. It was nothing like I expected. It was soft, and warm, and reminded me of how I felt when I first kissed Calypso, but this, this was so much better.

This isn't real. A voice said in my head. This isn't Marie, this is a siren, pretending to be her. If you don't get out of here now, this siren will kill you, and drag you down to the bottom of the sea.

"This isn't..." I pushed the siren off on me. "...real." it no longer looked like Marie. It was her if she had turned into a fish with beady red eyes and sharp fangs. It charged me. I threw a ball of flaming hot fire at her again. It shrieked a horrible, gut-wrenching sound. Suddenly, the shrieking stopped and was replaced by a horrible gagging noise. I stopped throwing fire at it and looked to see what had made the siren stop screaming.

A blue, two-pronged spear was protruding right from the Siren's chest. Green blood was spilling out of it's wound as it stood there, stunned. The Siren fell over, revealing a tall girl with blue-green hair, with her eyes narrowed in a menacing way.

"Sorry I'm late," she said with a slight tone of bitterness. "I had to throw on some clothes."

I stared at her in awe, imagining her in what the siren was wearing. Di Immortales.

"You just killed a siren! With one fucking throw, you just killed a siren!"

"Yeah. I guess I did." she scratched the back of the head, and moved over to the siren's dead body. She grabbed maelstrom by the handle and pulled the pear out with a squelching sound from the siren's torso.

"Where did you learn to do that?"

"I'm not really sure? I guess I just kind of... did it?"

"Well, it was really cool," I said appreciatively.

Her lips curled into a slight smile. Almost as if she liked the compliment, but was embarrassed at the same time. I noticed her face turned a slight pink.

She blinked and shook her head as if she was removing a nice, unrealistic thought from her mind. "So we should probably get back to the boat," she said finally.

"Oh yeah, you're right." I tried not to focus on her embarrassed face. "Um, how are we going to get to the ship?" I asked, mentally calculating and devising a plan to locate, and get back to the ship.

"Well, that depends." She said, taking a trident pendant off from around her neck.

"On what?"

"On whether or not you're comfortable with surfing." she threw the pendant into the water, and it magically grew out into a longboard, perfect for two people to stand on. I'll admit, flying across the water on a piece of polyurethane foam, with a very high chance of me falling off and drowning, did not make me entirely comfortable. But, seeing as I probably couldn't pull a boat out of my tool belt, and I couldn't swim, surfing didn't sound like a bad idea.

Marie jumped into the water and pushed herself onto her board. Her clothes weren't even wet, and she stood on the board with the same stability as on the land, even more, stable it seemed. Like being on the water somehow made her stronger and more confident. Though I suppose that tends to be the case when your father is the god of the ocean. She held her hand out, waiting for me to take it and climb on board.

"One problem with that, I can't swim. So if I jump off this rock, there's a good chance I won't come back up."

She got an amused look on her face, almost as if trying to resist a laugh. "Well," she jumped off the board and landed with a splash in the water. "Let's do this the old fashioned way. Jump in and I'll catch you."

She had to be joking. I may be short, but I am no child. Even though there was no one around, It was still kind of embarrassing. But, as there was no alternative, I plunged into the chilly waters and felt my head go under. Marie's hands grabbed me under my armpits and pulled me up. She was surprisingly strong, then again I don't weigh much, and was able to easily hoist me on to the board. Then, she pushed herself on and stood up. I scrambled into a standing position, trying to keep my balance. Marie gave a short laugh, amused by my discomfort. She grabbed my arm, helping me keep my balance. Her grip was both soft, and strong. enough to keep me stable and make me want to pee my pants with excitement at the same time.

"Hold on to my waist," she said with discomfort in her voice.

I was slightly taken aback when she said that. I mean, I had just witnessed her strip down on the deck of the Argo 2, now she was asking me to put my hands around her waist. I began to imagine what it must have been like for her to have some short Mexican elf staring at her while she was in a bikini. As we soared over the water, I tried my hardest to keep my balance while not holding on to Marie too tightly. I couldn't see her face, but I could tell that she wasn't exactly happy with this either.

When we finally made it back to the ship, the rest of the seven were all leaning over the side, shouting at us. We climbed over the side of the ship and Percy and Jason helped us over the rail. Hazel ran over with towels in hand. I dried my face off first and then wrapped the towel around me. Percy pulled Marie into a hug. "What the Hades happened to you two? And why are you covered in green siren blood?" he said.

Marie looked at me and said, "Leo had dropped something over the edge of the boat and leaned down to get it. He fell, and since he can't swim, he nearly drowned. I jumped over the side to save him, but the current of the ocean and the force from the oars had pushed him too far back. When I found him, he was on a rock-throwing fire at a siren. It didn't seem to be working so I threw maelstrom at it and killed the thing. Then I took Leo back here."

Percy looked at me with questioning eyes. I nodded, confirming the false story.

Piper rushed to my side. "What was it like? The Siren, did it do anything to try to kill you?" she asked fascinated. It only made sense, Piper was the daughter of Aphrodite and was fluent in charmspeak, sirens have a similar ability.

I thought back to when the siren had kissed me and told me that we could together forever. It looked and sounded so much like Marie that I almost believed it. I looked at Marie again and imagined myself kissing her. The real her. I felt guilty about it. I seriously had to break this habit of imagining Marie in such situations. "Eh, you know. It tried." I began to wonder if Marie had seen what the siren took the form of when it was trying to kill me. If she had seen it kiss me. Part of me almost wanted her to know, that way she could stop thinking that I hated her. I should hate her, considering what happened to Jake but... I just couldn't. I couldn't hate her. Every time I thought about how angry I was, I only saw her sad green eyes. Filled with so much loneliness and pain. I could only imagine how much self-hatred she had, and I just couldn't add to that.

* Means: Oh my Gods! holy shit holy shit! Marie is thicccc. this is not good at all! how am I supposed to resent her if she's out here looking like that? ugh, get your head out of the gutter Leo, and back on the task ahead. but does she have to look so beautiful? Calypso couldn't even come close to comparing with Marie. oh yikes, it's gonna be so difficult to concentrate on getting us to Greece safely.


End file.
